Limit
by Scorpina
Summary: Not everyone returned home after the Alien invasion came and went. Garou and Melee knew there was no other choice now. Despite their weakened state, they had to go after their child. Even if it means they may not return... Meanwhile, a new test is being performed, one to push the child of Garou to his limit with unexpected results...
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"He never came home…" Deep down, Garou knew what had happened. He should have been there to help Alley and the others with the aliens, it was the perfect time to strike… 106 did just that, bided his time and waited for a distraction such as this. He should have known better…

"Dad…"

Garou broke away from the window, he turned to Hunter and Alley who looked on with worry. In the morning light, he appeared far frailer than ever before. But he forced a smile. "Hey, you're old man is just rambling." He said.

"Pac didn't come home dad. We know it!" protested Hunter. "We need to go out and find him!"

"Yeah… no." he said. You are staying here and protecting the house and our family within it." He announced. His feet shuffled across the floor. "SNEK!" he called out.

Snek slipped out of his room, however he quickly took notice of the look on Garou's face. "You're shitting me! You GOT to be. There's no way…"

"Shut the hell up will ya" Garou then smirked as he approached him, a firm hand came on to his shoulder as the smile grew. "Don't… let me down." He said. "You watch my kids, that favor you owe me, I am claiming it now."

"You're out of your goddamn mind!" protested Snek. "You got no strength…"

"I'll worry about what I got and what I don't. But listen… ALL of you, Pac's coming home, one way or another. I ain't promising that I will."

"Dad… you can't do this! I WON'T LET YOU!" shouted Alley.

"Despite my weakened state… I can still best the lot of you. Also… I never taught you everything I know."

Hunter however stood at the ready. "Prove it!" he demanded.

He forced a small laugh. "Answer me this, why haven't your other siblings woken up to stop me?"

Alley froze, it was nine in the morning, and the whole house is usually up before eight. What could he possibly have… Suddenly she froze. Garou's hand pinched the nap of her neck and that of Hunter's. The two went very still suddenly before slowly falling to the ground in a limp state. "That's one of them…" he said. Then, he turned back to Snek. "You promise me… you will take care of them?"

He froze, he could only nod his head to Garou as he gave an appreciative nod back. "See, I always told you, you are a lot stronger than you looked. I'm heading out. No one is to follow me," he warned.

"What about Melee?"

He laughed. "She left the house long before me, getting supplies for the two of us. Anyways, Snek… thanks" With that, in a weakened state, he walked out the door. Garou used most of his strength to take flight, however he depended on the winds to carry him.

#

"I cannot believe you asked this of me…" Genus muttered as he tucked in supplies in a small pack.

"It's the least that you could do for us, after using Alley for that time the summer and making her keep a secret like that from her own mother and father." She scolded. "Now, how do these work?"

Genus sighed aloud. "These will work for thirty minutes on you and Garou, do not take more than two at a time and you need to wait at least an hour before taking the next shot. These monster adrenalines have not been tested to say the least,"

She nodded as she took the bag off the table. Inside she counted ten of them. "What are you going to do?" he asked.

Melee sighed aloud. "I am going to borrow Metal Bat's dog."

"He has a dog?"

"A monster one, it use to belong to the heroes in City A, but then complications came about, ran away. My kids found it took it in, and then Rover wouldn't stay when Snek moved in. Strangely enough it liked Zenko and went with her."

"Ah… a monster dog?"

"Indeed, and I think if given the right scent, it will help us find Pac." Just as she clipped the bag around her waist, her phone went off. "Hello?"

"Have… you seen… my sister?"

She froze to the voice, it was Bad, and he sounded like a blubbering mess! "Bad, what happened? Is Zenko gone?"

"I… I dunno…" he said. "I was out on stand by like Alley asked the Neo Heroes. When I got home, she went out to walk Rover… she never came back… Rover is gone too!"

Melee froze to the news. "Bad, hold on, Garou and I are coming over" She hung up and turned to Genus. "I need more of these. At least four"

"They are untested! Melee, you and Garou could really harm yourselves…"

"We're already being harmed Genus! We're starving to death and we don't have the strength needed to find our son! Load me up, NOW!" she ordered.

He was reluctant to do so, yet he gave her four more vials just as Garou arrived. "Hey… you ready?" he asked.

"We need to see Bad. Zenko is gone too."

"Shit! That son of a bitch… he's going to try and breed them isn't he?"

"We have to find them before that happens…" Melee paused. "Your clones… they don't like anything going to waste do they?" she asked.

"No, nothing is wasted…"

"I think we need to see your former base. Granted the tower is gone, but, what if they rebuilt it, just… deeper in the ground?"

"You think they are that stupid?" muttered Garou.

"No, that brilliant." said Genus. "Many would assume the lab has been completely destroyed. I was surprised in face when Saitama found the subbasement after the top of it was blown to bits. If anything, 106 went down into the mountain. Since there were other rooms, I kept samples there that survived the attack… I never retrieved them."

"Why go back to a former stomping ground if people knew it was there. Yet, if it had been reduced to rubble there would be nothing to rebuild from. Or so they would let us assume."

Garou nodded to Melee's notion. "It's the best led we got… Just a moment." He reached for one of the adrenaline shots. One injection to the arm and he appeared stronger. "Half an hour, limit. Okay, let's get Bad and then go from there!"

Melee took her injection too. "Let get our son back"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Pac barely remembered what happened.

The last thing he could recall was waiting in City Q along with Watchdog man. They were keeping an eye to the sky and yet at the same time dealing with monsters who took the opportunity to strike. They were easily put down, and the city settled with the ship went back off into space. "Well, that was uneventful" Pac announced. "You good here?"

Watchdog man nodded. "Thanks, I am certain I could have handled it all myself, but I do appreciate the support."

"No worried, you take care."

Pac left shortly after, taking the long route home. He doesn't quite remember when or how he passed out, but he remembered a moment where his body just shut down on him. What caused it? He wasn't certain, but he woke, Pac found himself in massive, industrial room. Wall to wall it was nothing but white. "What the hell…" he muttered.

"Oh good, you're awake! Welcome eldest son of Garou!" echoed a familiar voice over a PA system.

"Shit, you assholes again." he muttered. Picking himself off the ground, Pac turned to the walls. There were no windows, doors or anything of the sort, yet there must be a way out. "Look here asshat! I am not sticking around and playing your game!" he protested. "Now, unless you want another busted up facility…"

"Oh, I think you will play, after all the prize at the end is something of interest to you…" The wall before him turned solid as it projected an image. It was an extreme close up at first, yet as it panned back, Pac knew the face instantly.

Zenko!

"Wait… you kidnapped her!?" he demanded. "What the hell is your problem!?" he demanded. "Let her go!"

"Oh no, you need to play first, after all, you aren't the only one in this facility with an interest for Miss Zenko… We finished up a test recently and it turned out quite lovely if we do say so…" The image split. It was Zenko on one side, then the other… a very twisted and strange looking beast. Yet, Pac felt as if he knew it.

The soggy French fry hair was a dead give away.

"So, you got Angelface here? All I gots to do is pass your little challenge and she's mine? Sweet deal"

"Brant…" he muttered. Brant had turned into a monster. His body bulky to say the least, yet he has legs of a lion and its mane, his upper body strengthen to that of a body builder yet bumped out like a turtle shell with strange scaling on it. His back ridged like a crocodile with a tail of a snake. His face bore a wild look, as there appeared to be tusks sticking out from his lower lip.

"Now, you see, you are going to play, oh and we have one other incentives for the both of you…"

He heard a vent open and a waft of air blown into the room. Pac didn't think much of it, until he smelt the breeze. He froze as there came a look of embarrassment from Zenko. In fact, Pac nearly went ballistic then and there as the image panned back. She was forced to stand chained to the wall with barely any clothing… but also without something to help the bleeding. Her scent changed, and it was one that urged him to find her before any other male does.

Brant on the other hand appeared excited. "Ooo, baby girl, we're going to have some FUN!" he announced.

His body tensed, Pac felt this wild and angry power growing within him. Brant will never lay a hand on her… Not while he's around. "Now, gentlemen, the rules are simple, destroy what comes before you, the one who finishes their task the fastest, get to the room where we have Miss Zenko waiting. The winner can do whatever they wish with her!"

Pac unleashed a powerful roar of anger. "YOU ARE ALL GOING TO PAY FOR THIS!"

"Now, now, save your energy for the game… it begins now!"

He stood at the ready to fight whatever was coming his way. Yet, since there were no windows, no doors and nothing was coming into the room, Pac roared aloud. "I go to you then… FINE!" he hissed.

Charging full speed, his body tore through the wall and into another room. Awaiting him were monsters at the ready for battle.

None of them will get pass him, none of them will survive if they block his way to Zenko!

#

Duce was smiling from ear to ear as he watched the two come to blows with his maze of traps and monsters. It's been his passion. Ever since the house of evolution, Duce wanted nothing more than to rebuild it all and recreate some of his master's former wonders. He has spent years in doing so thanks to 106 and his assistance on materials. He took their old hide away and built down rather than up so it wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb. But more importantly, he has created something magnificent out of the old materials. The beast king for one, he produced six of them but ensure they would be far more powerful than their predecessor. In fact he was inspired by mythology and made it more of a Chimera. Horns of a goat, tail of a serpent, scales of an alligator, head of a lion on a human looking body. They have been able to destroy any and all threats that come their way. He has created a small army of android gorillas, however due to lack of supplies available, they were not his best work, yet would be great fodder for what he is witnessing. Other creations are lying in wait, but, they are not going to be fed to the two brutes in his clutches.

No, he is waiting for Melee and Garou.

"Their parental habits have become quite… predictable. It will also allow master to see how far his toxins have come. They must be on the brink of death by now, the lack of food they are able to digest and keep down for one. Pity, they didn't realize the more they tried to ingest the more it make of that toxin in their bowels. Can't say I would wish to go that way, but, such is life… I am certain Melee will at least appreciate the creations that I have will certainly bring her death!"

"Duce…"

He paused as 106 came over his computer. "Master, yes, how are your preparations?"

"We have not been able to obtain the alien DNA as hoped, they were too cautions to say the least. However we are making great strides for out next test, but, I believe we will have to hold back for a moment until we know for certain how things will work in our favor."

"Indeed, with the information we gained from Snek, it appears the test is plausible, however different variables."

"Correct. Now then, I suggest you ensure a quick death for Melee and Garou, do not give them a chance to recover or fight back! Is that understood?"

"Yes master,"

"Good, now I want a full report on this examination as well. Keep and eye on the son of Garou…" with that the screen turned off. Duce went back to the screen and found Pac was already on the third room, ripping monsters apart with such ease. But, he also noticed something.

"What is this… is he… changing again?"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU AIN'T GONNA HELP"

Bad was in an uproar. He had gone to the Neo heroes and explained what happened. His sister has been kidnapped and he needed help to get her back. Accel tried to explain to him that they cannot show favoritism to Bad due to his past being an S Class hero. "The people expect more from us Bad, we cannot drop everything because of your sister. It will be just like the incident with that rich man's boy…"

"This isn't some investor, this is MY SISTER!" he protested. "Where are Ran and Shaw?" he demanded.

"Out," said Raiden.

"Emp? Darkshine?"

"Child Emperor is busy in his lab working on our latest safety gear. Darkshine is with new recruits all day!"

Bad shook his head to it all. "So that's it. I'm on my own?" he demanded, but then sneered. "If Street and Knuckle Brawler were still alive, they would help me," he said coldly.

"Well they aren't here!" snapped Accel. Bad was taken aback by his tone, he knows he hit a sore spot with Accel, that wound was still fresh on all Neo Heroes. Accel calmed himself down but glared at Bad. "We are advising you not to go. If you peruse this… it is not a Neo Hero problem. You won't have backup, we are not obligated to answer the call. The choice is yours."

Bad glared them down. He spat at Accel's feet before storming out with his metal bat in hand. He knows he's not alone. He had a brief meeting with Melee and Garou about the incident since Pac was taken too. However they soon realized where their son was being held and went off without another word. Bad offered to come along but Garou refused. "Too much is going on, stay back. But if you are going to come, be prepared for the worst!" he warned. Since then, they went on ahead, he just wished though they said something.

He just walked out of HQ, trying to figure out his next move when something caught his ear. "Pst." He heard. To his left he saw Drax and nudges his head to around the corner. He was quick to take the hint as the two met.

"What? You heard?"

"Yeah, I heard, I can't help…"

"Dude, I am not putting this kind of shit on your shoulders. You already went through it, I got to stop them from doing anything to my sister."

"Yeah, dad just called me. I told him everything that happened, he figured it out too. Melee and Garou have gone back to where the first house of evolution started. The rebuilt but it's underground,"

"Son of a bitch!" Bad growled. Drax brought up the coordinate; he was quick to show Bad. "Dude… thanks, you've done a lot more for me than those guys!"

"Good luck man." With that, Bad was off. Running as fast as he could, he was on his way to the house of Evolution…

#

Alley just picked herself up off the floor a few hours later. Goliath, and the others woke first from the pinch and yet none of them could figure out how it happened. "Dad… how did dad…"

"Not even I know…" said Alley with great uncertainty, she paused and turned to Snek who appeared scared to death. "Snek…"

"I don't like the way your father spoke…" he whispered. "That tone, he has never sounded so… certain of something before."

"What do you mean?" asked Goliath.

"Yeah, Snek, what did you mean?" questioned Luna.

He shook his head to it. "I rather not think about it… no, I can't think about it. He's coming back!" he insisted.

Alley however explained it all to her siblings. "What he means is, if something happens to mom and dad. Dad asked Snek to look out for us, and become head of the family. Dad… sounded like he wasn't coming back home."

"Where did they go? We're going to help them!" stated Draven.

"They can't leave us out of the loop like this!" protested Akira. "We're family, family helps family right?! That's the rule!"

"He's trying to prevent you all from falling right into the lap of that damn clone!" snapped Snek. The kids froze. "None of you… are going anywhere. So help me, you are staying here until he gets back with your mother and brother. Understood?" Snek demanded.

Everyone froze as they could only bring themselves to nod their heads. "I wish Boros was still here, he could have been in and out before anyone noticed…" muttered Eclipsa.

"I'm just as fast!" stated Luna.

"NO!" scolded Snek. "You are staying here, in this house where I can watch you! Triplets, go play with my kids. Draven, Goliath you are in charge of meals, prepare as many as possible for the days ahead, including breakfast. Alley, Hunter, call Suiryu and Max and let them know what's happened and keep the association informed."

"Okay…" the room muttered. No one was going to argue with him, not with that glare in his eyes and tone in his voice. Snek had gone into protective father mode, one worthy of Garou.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Suiryu was out doing patrols when he got the call from Alley.

Snek has gone into full-blown defensive mode. She explained the situation and asked if he would be kind enough to take care of the association. He texted back saying. "Sure, I'll try not to burn it to the ground!"

But there was a reason for his patrols today. He just found a letter in his room written to him by Boros. He was surprised about the discovery, Boros wasn't the kind to really show his emotions, let alone express them that often. Yet when he found the letter, Suiryu read it once before being moved by it. Since then, he kept it close to him, taking it along on his patrols and reading it over and over again every spare second he has.

After the request from Alley, he took a moment to read it over again.

"Father, Suiryu.

I never did get the opportunity to express my gratitude in you being my father. I should have taken more time to express it, but was unaware as to how. You see, my true birth father never would have done the things you had with me. Training was on my own accord as he would say 'get stronger on your own'. You on the other hand would take time and show me, teach and train me in your ways of combat and skill. Being arrogant, I never appreciated that at a young age. Fully grown now, I see it was a gift, and I humbly accept it.

I do hope you and mother have children of your own. They will be amazing warriors no doubt. Your skills and mother's talents are not to be ignored. I got to see first hand how they would grow up, how they would be treated and now, I must say I envy them. They will be able to spend far more time with you than I."

He paused to clear away a tear. Suiryu never thought about children. In fact when Alley suggested they adopted Boros, he was flat out against it. It scared the shit out of him in fact! But, after going through what they did. Somehow convincing him to abandon his former ideas of power and letting him see the world and universe in a far different state, it was nonetheless, something to be proud of.

He looked back to the letter and continued on. "Father, I do have one request of you. Take care of mother and all future siblings of mine. I wish to meet them someday soon. I wish to return home after visiting some planets that the original had once laid waste to and hope to restore them. Until then, I will tell you one little secret of mine."

Suiryu paused, he never noticed that part of the letter before. Then again, normally when he got to the part where he mention about being envy of his future siblings, he would cry and tuck the letter away! But, now, he noticed the additional writing.

"For the past few months, I have been working on a project in secret. I have told no one of this for it wasn't ready and I wasn't certain if it would work, yet, before leaving, I am confident to say the project will continue on without me, without flaw. I wish for you to please keep an open mind to what I have made, and if it has offended anyone in the family, I beg for forgiveness. But, this matter I couldn't let rest… not when I was capable and able to do something."

He froze once more. "Boros… what are you trying to tell me?" he whispered.

He looked to the back of the letter yet found nothing more. "You didn't tell me anything about the secret! Boros, what is it that you wanted to say!" Suiryu demanded, yet paused and wondering why he was yelling at a piece of paper?

It didn't matter, he tucked the note back into his pocket. With that, he took to the skies and flew to the association. Yet as he entered, he found Genus explaining everything before he could even call a meeting! The heroes were whispering, muttering about the news. "Why the hell would those two go out and do such a thing?!" demanded Stinger.

"Why did you help them?" asked Death Gatling to Genus.

"People, people, please. I can understand the logic Garou had about this and Melee for that matter. They have felt that since it was their child, they are the ones who should be tending to the matter at hand. As well, no offense to those in his room, no one would have been strong enough to offer adequate assistance." He explained.

"I do take offense!" protested Bun-Bun. "In fact, tell me where they went to!" she demanded.

"I cannot," he said. "They insisted on it, as well. If too many people get involved then… I fear for the consequence."

"It's the Heroes Association all over again…" muttered Gatling. "We are not strong enough to be in S Class, we are no strong enough to even HELP when a hero needs assistance."

"You don't understand what we are up against!" said Suiryu. The room turned and took noticed of him lingering near the back. "The house of evolution has full intention on using Garou and his family for testing, no one is safe, not even Max, Snek or myself as we too fell victim. They don't want our fate to become yours. What if they turned you into something like me!" he said.

The room fell into whispers.

"I don't think it would be so bad!" snickered Stinger.

Only to get a firm punch to the arm by Glasses.

"Thanks Glasses. Anyway, they tried to use us for breeding. They succeeded with Snek, now it appears they are attempting to do the same with Pac."

The room looked a little paler now. "Wait, isn't he dating Zenko? Metal Bat's sister?" asked Chain & Toad.

It hit Suiryu too. "Shit…" he whispered.

"The best option we can do right now is ensure the safety of the cities," said Genus. "Is that not what a hero does? Despite our struggles, the people need to know they are safe and in good hands in the absence of our strongest. We will be that strength!"

It was a rallying battle cry that got the others hyped up. They went out and did their patrols as Suiryu sighed aloud to the whole ordeal. "What the hell are we going to do Genus?" he asked.

There was a look in his eyes, one Suiryu had never seen before. "We are going to hunt him down… and end him!" he explained.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Room after room, he tore them all to bits.

It didn't matter how big they were, how strong they claimed to be. Pac destroyed them. Yet, at the same time, with every layer of monster blood and gore that coated his body, he felt himself changing. "Don't think of it now… save Zenko first… Don't think of it now… save Zenko first." It was all he could bring himself to say. He had to keep focus.

His eyes drifted every so often as he saw the layers of blood cake onto his body, forming a new skin over his own. His hair stiff like horns his body continuing to grow in strength with each room he passes. He no longer tears through them, he merely walked towards the wall, with a single punch, and the wall gives way to a new threat and to a new challenge.

"Get out of my way, or die!" he warned the monsters within.

None ever heeded his warning. They would come at him with their fangs bared and claws aimed for him. He became too fast to be seem, too strong to be stopped. The battle lasted mere seconds before moving on. "Zenko… save Zenko first… Don't think of it now…" he said to himself over once more as the next room awaited him…

#

"Remarkable. Simply remarkable!" Duce announced. "If I didn't know any better, I would say he is becoming much like his father's first transformation."

Duce had 106 back on the computer, yet as wiring the video feed to his lab, showing him what was becoming of the eldest son of Garou. He paused and stared on as the boy tore through each and every threat without much care to those within. Each death became more violent, gorier than the last. His mind was slipping that was certain.

"He cannot control this strength can he? That or it is his monster urges taking hold. He is focused on the girl, so this shall go according to plan, will it not?" 106 asked.

"I have no doubt…" Duce said as he flipped the rooms. It was part of his passion project when he remade the base for the house of evolution, he made certain the rooms spun and moved about, ensuring his prisoners don't gain what they want right away. It would force Pac to fight until he breaks! However, Duce paused as a small alarm went off. "Oh, I have company…" he turned to the security camera and smirked. There was that small monster like dog that his legions had to beat off to obtain Zenko. It found the hideaway and attempted to dig a hole down into the lab. "Isn't that cute, who knew a monster other than Garou and his kin had such emotional attachments."

"Destroy it when you get the chance, I don't need that specimen, far too weak!"

"I don't know master, considering I heard that this one actually grows rather massive. It was considered an executive in the Monster association. Yet, why would it be with Metal Bat's sister of all people?" 106 wondered aloud.

"It doesn't matter, I should try and…"

"ROVER!"

Both men paused as Metal Bat appeared. "This just became interesting… also, I have readings of Garou and his mate fast approaching the facility…"

"Keep this one occupied. Our priority is Garou, Melee and getting their eldest son to breed. Do not take them lightly!"

"Of course not, master!"

#

Metal Bat just arrived at the facility. However, he was startled by the trail of blood that led up to it. "Something's hurt…" he whispered to himself. By the time he arrived, Bad froze at the sight.

"ROVER!" he called.

The monster dog never went home, despite the fact his paw was wounded, the blood came from him no less. Yet still, despite it, he was trying to dig a hole. Perhaps he found Zenko and wanted to get to her. He stopped for but a moment and wagged his tail joyously at the sight of Bad. But it quickly went back to digging. Bad could only smile as he approached the loyal mutt. "Hey, no need to work so hard, I'm here and I am going to get her okay. You did well. You were a very good boy!"

Rover's tail wagged even more upon the praise, Bad however had to dress his wound. Taking off his jacket, he tore the sleeve from his shirt and used it as a bandage. He wrapped up the wounded paw and did a quick check. He was only hurt there. "Okay boy, I am going to take it from here okay? Now, how the hell do I get down there?" he paused staring at his bat, he will bash his way down if he has to.

Rover however began to get twitchy, trying to get Bat's attention with gentle barks and running around his legs. Bad was curious as he reached down. "What is it boy?" Rover suddenly turned himself around, despite getting the dog's ass in his face, Bad swore he felt something growing within the dog.

Next thing he knew, he was blown back!

Flying through the air he landed in the bushes near by with Rover in hand. The dog appeared rather pleased with himself as Bad peered past him. A rather large, smoldering hole was made, and it breached the underground lab! "You are getting steak for your dinner all next week!" Bad said joyously. "Now, go home. I will get Zenko okay?"

With that, Rover did as he was told and began his trek home. Bad got his jacket back on and stared down into the unknown. "Hang on sis, big bro is on his way!" There was no hesitation as Bad jumped down into the hovel. He landed in a metal hallway as it announced his breech of the facility…


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Garou and Melee landed a few miles away. They had to stop and take a break as the first shot of adrenaline wore off. Melee sighed to it all as her body began to rebel against her. "Oh God…" she moaned, leaning against the closest tree, she purged. The black bile refused to stay down, let alone completely leave her system. She turned and found Garou lurched over after he too expelled his latest rebellion. He quickly cleared the bile off his lip.

"This is nothing…" he said and tried to move on.

Melee kept close behind him, yet he turned every so often. "You don't have to do this, I can go alone." He said.

"Yeah, right… As if I am going to let you hog all the fun!" she protested sarcastically.

He smirked to her tone as they continued on. Inclines were battles in themselves. Neither one had the strength, but continued on knowing their son needed them. Melee kept a close eye on Garou as he tried to appear stronger than he really was. She knew he was putting on a brave face not just for her, but for the family. "How did you make sure the kids wouldn't follow us?" she asked.

He smirked to her. "You didn't know either? They all have a pressure point at the back of their neck, like a nap you see in animals, pinch that and they are out for a few hours or so. I got them all before leaving… I told Snek…" he paused. "To look out for everyone…"

She knew that tone. He doesn't intent on leaving here alive. Then again, she came to the same conclusion herself. They haven't been able to eat in months, the fact that they are still standing is a miracle in itself. Perhaps it's their power that keeps them going? Or the idea that one of their children is in harms way? It didn't matter. She would gladly die if it meant saving her child.

But she would be happier still if she took down 106 with her.

Garou paused as he took in the air. "Monster blood." He said.

"Is it…"

"No, it's not Pac's." he said. A pause came over him. "How long?" he asked.

She checked her watch. Melee put in a timer for each time she and Garou take a shot of the adrenaline Genus made. "Fifteen minutes left until we can take the next one."

He nodded as they continued on.

Melee began to smell the blood too, that and scorched earth, but there was another scent in the air. "You smell that?" she asked.

He paused and took in the air, a small smirk came over him. "Metal Bat." He said. "I'm amazed though that he knew to come here."

They continued, Melee knew if she could pick up Metal Bat's scent and that of the burn ground, they have to be near an opening. They just made it up a small hill when Garou paused.

There was a small legion waiting for them. "Shit…" he muttered lowly.

Three beast kings stood and snickered at the sight of them. "Boss wants you alive!" one said. "It's best you don't fight us, besides, that would ruin the surprise!"

"What… surprise?" Melee demanded.

"Follow us and see for yourself…"

"Our son first!" stated Garou. "We will go with you willingly, but release our son!"

The beast kings snickered. "We can't, even if we wanted to, and we won't either. You see, your son… isn't quite himself right now."

"What are you talking about! What did you do to my SON!" Melee roared.

"We did nothing, he's done this all on his own! But, enough of that…"

"NO!" Melee protested. "You tell me, right here and now you sacks of shit! What have you done to my son!?"

The beast king on the left snickered. "Gutsy for a weakling. Your son is in a contest right now, winner gets the girl… you wouldn't want to take him out of such a contest now, when it's one he has admired now would you? His rival is just as keen to get to her as he is!"

"Rival…" muttered Garou.

"Indeed, taking him out now, puts the girl in danger. Anything happens to her, I doubt he would ever forgive you," said the one on the right.

"Melee…" Garou whispered.

"What if they are lying though? Garou, we cannot trust them!"

"They have Metal Bat's sister, we know that is true since he's here too. We have to go with them for now. We will get Pac when we're done… for now, we have to let this go. We cannot endanger the two of them."

Her blood was boiling. "We always do this though Garou, we always play it safe…" she said through her teeth.

He smirked. "You're thinking a lot like me now, Melee. I got to this thinking like you when you're level headed. Normally I wouldn't care we are out numbered and at a disadvantage, but we have far more to lose picking a fight now."

"Damn it, I have rubbed off on you!"

"And I see my influence hasn't gone to waste on you either."

"Enough with the chit chat, both of you! Come with us at once or die where you stand!"

"Keep your damn mane on, we're coming!" snapped Garou. "Not like you have anywhere to be"

Melee did a quick check of her watch. Seven minutes, they just have to wait seven more minutes until the next injection can be taken…


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

They were lead to an area that gave way to an elevator of all things. The beast kings snickered and snapped their serpent tails towards them. "In you go. Gotta say though, I wouldn't want to be you!"

Garou glared at them as he turned to Melee and gave a nod. They walked into the trap willingly, but deep down, he knew they would save their son. He will have the strength to protect his boy from the terrors of this clone. Yet as they descended, Melee wobbled a little. She looked as if she were ready to be sick again, but then paused. "He's not here…" she whispered.

"Pac?"

"No, the clone. 106, he's not here."

Garou was angry with the news, however it couldn't be helped now. There was nothing that could be done, for now, they can only bide time until they find Pac and get the hell out. But it's all going to depend on what lays ahead.

The elevator jolted.

It finally came to a stop as it felt as if it would go on forever, the door opened to a massive, wide open room. Garou took a deep breath, yet paused as Melee's hand slipped into his. "Whatever happens… I love you." She whispered.

"I know," he said and smirked. But he squeezed her hand back a little tighter. "Thank God I got to be with you."

They released each other and walked into the room appearing as strong as they could. At the end of it stood another clone, but he smiled to their arrival. He appeared much like Genus no less, yet his hair had a bold red strip down the bangs that covered the left side of his face. "Welcome! Welcome!" he announced.

Melee glared at him. "What the hell is your problem?" she asked. "What is it that you can't leave our family alone? Genetics or not, you assholes are the bane of our existence, and we thought we had it bad when Amai wouldn't leave us the hell alone."

The clone smirked. "First off, introductions. My name is Duce."

"More like Douche." Said Garou.

"Mature, however I expect nothing less from you, Garou. You need to understand the idea and concept of a world that needs to evolve. You two have the key for said evolution. Have you not considered the idea that if humans were more like you, the monster attack will stop all together?"

"Because they will be monsters," muttered Melee. "This isn't about allowing the human race to survive or become a greater being. This is about you getting what you want, no matter the cost!"

Duce shrugged his shoulders rather playfully. "I am like a child who knows what they want and will do what they can to obtain it." He said with a grin. "Alas, since you have had children and their genetic material are far greater than yours now. You are no longer needed. Master's toxin has worked beyond its original concept. You failed to realize that what it has done is block your digestive track completely; everything you tried to consume was broken down by the toxin and made more of itself. Essentially, you are going to be the cause of your own downfall."

"Son of a bitch," hiss Garou. "And what of our son! What about Pac!"

His smile grew. "Funny you should mention him…" the walls dimmed as a video came to light. Garou froze at a being they revealed. It was was panting heavily, There were no distinct features to be seen of it, yet it startled him.

He looked like him as Awakened Garou!

His body tough and covered in a thick, dark hide, his hair turned to horns as his teeth appeared razor sharp and his eyes soulless. The strange thing about this one though, was he was larger than his former monster form. That and there was a tail lashing about. "It appears your son truly takes up after his father."

"Oh God… Pac…" whispered Melee.

"But for now, know he is alive, and is out to find Miss Zenko before the other suitor does. This wasn't a person we had to hunt down. In fact, he came to us, willingly to be tested upon and be turned into a powerful creature. Why? He wanted to defeat your son and have Zenko all to himself!"

There was only one person Garou could think of who was dumb enough to be used as an experiment. Brant! Garou began to feel himself revved up, he turned to Melee just as her watch went off. It was safe to take the injection, but he has to wait. Duce has yet to reveal what he has in store for them. There is no point in taking an injection now that would burn off in 30 minutes. "So what are you going to do with us? You going to kill us here and now?" demanded Melee.

"Indeed, but first, I wanted you see what we made. Just for this occasion!" Duce reached behind himself and revealed a remote. The four walls opened larger and wide doors. Then, they emerged. "The former master created a being known as Carnage Kabuto. It couldn't be controlled despite its great strength. But, I have found a way around it, but felt it was lacking something…"

Garou felt sick to his stomach as he peered at the four creatures. Melee trembled as she shook her head in disbelief. The four monsters had the faces of her brothers. "You see, I made certain what little DNA was left from your brothers went to use… Isn't this perfect. The ultimate beings… will bring about the downfall of you and your mate, Melee! Besides, I think they look far better this way, don't you?"

Garou could feel her seething from where he stood, rage fills her body as she trembled just staring at these four freaks of nature. "You really are a bunch of dickbags aren't you?" Garou asked.

"Get your jollies in now, they will be your last. Carnage squad… kill them!"

Melee reached into the bag, she took out two vials and was fast. Garou felt the injection in his arm as Melee stuck her leg. The surge came over him, hopefully it would be enough to take them down!


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

BASH

BASH

"DRAGON THRASHING!"

Hallway after hallway, Bad battled through monsters and strange looking creatures. He just polished off a small legion of apes in robot suits, but he was still nowhere near finding his sister. "Where the hell did they take you Zenko?" he muttered. He continued down the halls, yet kept on edge. Every corner he turned he has run into monsters, creatures with power beyond the normal every day, run of the mill kind.

Yet, as he turned down to his left, he felt the whole foundation shake! So much so he was knocked back on to his ass! "What the hell was that!?" There wasn't one of those, but two! There was no time to dwell on it though, he kept going, he has to keep going! "Zenko, you better be okay!" he said. Bad went into a run; the halls he began to go down suddenly were cleared. He found a new hole that led into the underground when he went a little farther, but this thing not only opened up a new hole… it blasted down at least seven levels! "What the hell did this?" But he didn't consider thinking about it, he decided to take the short cut. The ground was still hot from the incident, but he didn't care, if it could lead him to Zenko faster, he would take it!

#

Duce's clone counterparts kept to the main observation room. They made notes on Pac's strength, the changes in Melee and Garou as they fought off the four Carnage Kabutos, and also slowing down Metal Bat as best they could. Yet, there was a problem. Then the room shook, all the clones froze as they checked the rooms. "None of ours caused it, the Richter scales indicate that it was no test subject, or any creature of ours that made such a tremor!"

"Impossible, where did it originate from?"

One did a sweep of the ground, there it found two gaping holes, bigger than the one made by Metal Bat and his monster dog. "Recently made holes discovered, scanning for energy signatures…"

"Breach in level 7!"

"Breach? What kind of Breech? Isn't that the esper slug level?"

The clone who reported the breach froze. "They are dead…"

"What?! There were twenty of those things!"

"Breach level 9!"

"The Chimera beast kings…"

"No… vitals…"

The room froze as floor after floor reported breaching. They tried to get a scan of it yet nothing was coming up. "Whatever is doing this… its fast… I have little in the way of energy signatures…" the clone paused.

"What is it?"

"It's… organic… and inorganic…"

"What? How is that…"

"The body… it's… both!"

"Breach level 12"

"What do we do?"

"How do we tell him?"

"We have to get out, now! Abandon the project, we are outmatch by this!"

"106 will kill us!"

"This thing will too! I have no idea what we are up against!"

One tried to call Duce to get his approval, yet he found the call ignored. "It's… breached the Carnage Kabuto level…"

"On screen!"

Every clone was drawn to the screen, just out of curiosity to the creature that broke in and demolished the floors with great ease. "Is it the one that converted the original master?"

Yet they froze at the sight. "No… this… this is impossible…"


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"Get… Zenko…"

Pac was at his limit. No matter what room he went into, what opponent he faced, he felt he was no closer to finding Zenko than before. Yet, the last room offered him hope. Through the smell of death and monster blood, he began to pick up the scent… it was hers… "Zenko…" he whispered.

There was no hesitation as he went to the wall on his right. One shot and it gave way. He paused as he took in the room, his guard was up as he anticipated an attack. Yet none occurred. Instead he stared straight ahead and saw a lone, young woman in chains.

Zenko was trying anything and everything to slip out of her shackles, at the same time, he tried to maintain her dignity in such little clothing and the small pool of blood that formed under her. Pac stare blankly ahead, but that scent in the room was one he couldn't ignore. She looked up at him, at first she froze at the sight and trembled. "No, please… please don't!" she begged.

Pac approached her, staring into her face as she wept and begged for him to stay away. However he whispered her name. "Zenko…."

Her eyes widened, before she could utter his name, another wall gave way. Brant emerged from his battles. He was covered in blood and gore and was even chewing on his last victim before his eye set on her. Swallowing his foe, Brant smiled. "Angelface!" he said and bore a blood, monstrous grin. "Oh, baby girl. What I wouldn't do to have you all to myself right now. Timing is right, ain't it? Your brother is about to become my brother in law after we… let's say cement our relationship?"

Pac growled as he felt his body tense, he slowly turned and glared at Brant. "And just who or what the hell are you suppose to be?" he demanded. "I thought her boyfriend was battling too? You must have done him in if you're here and he's…"

SMASH

It was in the blink of an eye.

Pac struck hard and fast as the first strike went to Brant's stomach. His monster form had evolved over a turtle shell like body with alligator scales. But it instantly shattered upon impact.

Blood burst past his lips as he began to cough it up. "Wha… how did you do that!"

BASH

Pac's next move, was too fast to be seen, he grab Brant by the head and crushed his face into the ground. One shot was all it took to shatter the skull. He went limp under his grasp. Pac then turned back to Zenko. His monster side knew there were no others to oppose him. The reward was his to claim.

"Pac… Pac, please listen to me. I don't know what's happened to you, but you need to stop now!" she begged.

He didn't listen, instead he stared at the chains that bounded her to the wall, they were simple to break off her wrist, a quick pinch and the metal shattered from her wrists. He was gentle yet the power he just displayed was terrifying. He paid no attention to her reaction, instead he focused on the smell she gave off, it made him want to claim his reward. He pinned her to the wall, giving off this demonic rumble as if he attempted to purr to her. "Pac… please!" she begged. "Please, stop…. Don't do this," her voice was gentle, yet desperate. He reached for her cheek and gently cupped it in his hands. He went in for a kiss. "NO!" she protested.

He stopped.

Something inside him, made him halt. The words of his father echoed his mind. "I don't give a damn to how strong you are, how powerful you become. If a girl says no, back the hell off!"

"She… said no…" he said to himself. "Can't… have her…"

He pulled away, yet the monster urge tried to take over. "**_Victory! I won, she is mine!_**"

"SHE SAID NO!"

Back and forth he argued with himself, until his left side acted up. The shell of monster blood began to crack and break until his serpents emerged. "**_GO BACK_**" he ordered them, but they rebelled. Instead, their sights set on Zenko. They grabbed hold of her and pulled them into his side. "**_NO! SHE'S MINE, RELEASE, RELEASE_**!" he demanded over and over again. Pac began to attack himself.

Stiff punches to his body to break off the shell, his claws tried to scratch and rip out his own dragons to get to her. He nearly went mad doing so!

He eventually broke through the shell, when he tore the serpents from his body, he howled in pain to it, yet they were quick to regrow. Time and time again he would lash into himself, trying to reach her, but he would always regenerate, as the coil around his body only grew thicker and stronger.

The task became meaningless.

His strength suddenly began to decrease as the events were catching up.

He was exhausted.

The room now littered in his own blood and torn dragon like creatures, it became confusing for him to try and understand what he was doing and why.

In his tiredness, he regained his mind.

At first his eyes blurred as he stared down at his body. "Wha… what happened to me?" he muttered. "Ho... how did I become this?"

"ZENKO! SIS! ARE YOU HERE!"

Pac froze as he saw Metal Bat peer into the room. At first he surveyed the area, but quickly took notice at the dead monster on the floor. "Shit, what the hell was that?" he said, but then, as Pac began to move, Metal Bat caught him out of the corner of his eye. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU, YOU SON OF A BITCH, WHERE IS MY SISTER?" he roared.

He came running, with his bat up over his head, Bad was ready to bash it down on to Pac's skull. "Bad! It's me… It's me…" Pac said over and over again. He came within inches of the strike, his eyes were closed, bracing for the impact, but he saw the bat just before his face, but he felt the power of the swing as the ground below him cracked!

Bad froze. "Pac… shit man… sis!"

"Here… she's here… she's… here… I didn't hurt her… I swear…" his eyes rolled back as he collapsed to the floor.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

They lasted as long as they did thanks to the shots. Melee was able to keep to her feet and repel back the threats before her. Two of these monsters were hard to contend with as they were, even harder still when they bore the faces of her brothers. Melee struck hard and as fast as she could, but even she felt the lack of conviction in her fists. What would normally splatter a monster, merely winded these beasts.

Garou was in the same boat. She saw him fight on as best as he could, he had more strength and was able to send the two he contended with into the wall. It knocked them down for a short time but not out to say the least. Yet in that lone strike, the two could feel their legs tremble. Melee's began to buckle as she was desperate enough to take another shot of the adrenaline.

It wasn't working.

She thought for sure the adrenaline would be enough to hold her own, but she took one punch from the Carnage monster, that she hit the wall with a sickening splat.

Worst still, all the vials have been shattered upon impact. There was no more to use, not that it was helping the situation anyways. Garou did everything he could to stand and fight. He managed to repel one that looked like Street, and was able to strike one that appeared like Knuckle back and away. But he had no strength to defeat them. He was already breathless with the task, despite his best attempts, he couldn't summon his fighting spirit. Melee pulled herself off the wall, the last of her strength went to dodging a punch by one of the monsters. Had it connected, she would have been killed!

Yet, she only managed to dive behind Garou, the struggle to get up was pitiful to say the least. "Come on Melee! You can do this!" Garou insisted.

"I… know!" she said. Her arms trembled, her legs quivered as she slowly regained herself and stood once more "I'm sorry… I'm not that strong…" she whispered.

"Pointless struggle…" sighed Duce. "This is getting pitiful to watch, I expected more of a fight from these two. Finish them off." He ordered.

Melee turned as Garou stood perfectly still, he used abandonment and stood at the ready, Melee closed her eyes and attempted one final deep meditation. "Zombieman's endurance, Bad's fighting spirit. Darkshine's strength… Don't fail me now!" she whispered. Taking her stance and her fists clenched, she tried to stand ready.

With a deep breath and at perfect sync. Melee and Garou made one last deperate attack. Melee rushed head on into the monster who bore the same face as Knuckle. She managed to land a few solid blow, repelling it back and away from her, yet not one of them drew blood. Not a single strike took any chunk off the beast as it merely smirked at her pathetic attempt to fight back.

She ran out of energy.

Breathless to the task, she tried to regain a third wind, yet to add insult to the injury, she was merely grabbed hold of and slammed to the ground hard!

Her whole body ached, she felt blood tricking from her scalp as the monster just continued to toy with her. It lifted her on to her feet before landing a mere flick of its fingers. She flew back and hit the ground hard once more, her blood skidded across the floor as Garou was smashed back. He somehow managed to prevent his blood from hitting the ground, but he too was badly hurt.

Melee wondered how he kept on his feet. She could feel Garou weakening, and yet he refuses to hit the ground and stay there.

She has to refuse such a notion too. She can't stay down!

Slowly she pushed herself. Her body rebelled against her as Melee slowly got to her feet once more. Her whole body revolted and throbbed, it was all she could do. If she were to die here and now it will be on her feet, not on the ground!

"Garou…" she whispered. "I'm sorry…"

He smirked. "Tch, what do you have to be sorry for?" Slowly, they were surrounded. The Carnage Kabutos picking their spots and smiling a wicked grin.

"They didn't even have to go into carnage mode for the likes of you two… what a shame…" Duce said with a sigh. "Oh well, I suppose it cannot be helped. Finish them!"

The Kabutos smirked to each other as they took in a deep breath of air.

Melee braced for the impact. Garou suddenly turned himself over her and wrapped his wings around them both. Anticipating a great flame about to be casted upon them, Melee wept as Garou tried to protect her. Normally he would be fire resistant, however in his weakened state, his scales were not as strong as they use to be.

The room began to quake, the walls cracked as Melee swore some of the roof came down.

Just as the fire was about to reach them.

Was this the strength and power of the Kabutos at work? She didn't know, but he braced herself for anything and everything they could possible throw at them.

Melee however paused. There was no heat! Garou even appeared surprised. "I… don't feel anything…" he whispered.

Slowly, he opened his wings once more. There were two bodies guarding them from the fire. Somehow they were able to block the torrent of flames from all sides. However, it was the voice that came out of one of them that made Melee's blood run cold.

"Who the fuck do you think you are, assholes. No one picks on baby bro… but us!"


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Garou couldn't believe his eyes.

Melee was pale white at the sight.

Street, Knuckle, they… they were alive?

Street peered from the corner of his eyes, but that was when Garou realized, he had eyes like Genos. "Hey baby bro, thanks for keeping sis safe. Now… we got to fix you two up. This is gonna hurt…" Street reached for Garou's shoulder as he gently pulled him away from Melee, before he could question his motives, he gasped as Street's hand plunged into his stomach, piercing it! Garou trembled from the strike as he tasted blood. Yet when Street pulled back, he revealed his hand. It was black chrome and yet his index finger appeared clear yet held the black bile he's been vomiting. "Now the unpleasant part on my end…"

Street shot the bile into his mouth and drank it, a look of disgust followed as Knuckle shuttered since he did the same thing to Melee. "Oh God, you've been puking that shit up for how long!?" he demanded.

"You… you two…. You're dead!" protested Duce. Then he trembled. "Why did you ingest that?!"

Knuckle unleashed a massive burp as he struggled slightly to keep the bile down. "Who the fuck are you?" he demanded, but then paused. "Shit," he growled. "You ain't the one we're after. Shame though, we are going to take our anger out on you anyways… and seriously, what the fuck are these things!... is that MY face?!" Knuckle demanded pointing to one of the mutant creations. "Shit, it looks like I got an ass face and can't get the turd out of the ass crack! You're gonna pay for using my mug on that thing!"

"Ah, bro, remember…"

"Yeah… Okay, it's ready!" Garou saw Street's left hand. The skin somehow pulled back and revealed the black metal chrome once more! He was suddenly struck again, but this time he felt something inject into him. "Easy baby bro, temporary pain, I assure you." With that, Garou dropped to his knees, his whole body revolted as he could feel something wrench up his throat once more. His body broke into a convulsion, everything within him began to shift and churn.

He couldn't contain himself as he vomited the black bile, but this felt different. All his energy went into it, down to his toes he felt every bit of the shit wrench up and out of his body! When it was done, he fell over on to his side, shaking, trembling… starving!

"Here little bro, eat this, it will tie you over for now." Street said as he shoved a strange dry substance into his mouth. Garou didn't refuse, he was so desperate for something to eat, and he would take anything!

As he chewed the dry offering, his eyes shifted to Melee, she was shivering from it all. Knuckle leaned down and offered her the same dried food Street gave him. "Little bites sis, don't force yourself to eat it all at once…" he said gently. She did at first, until the hunger got the better of her too. She shoved the whole thing into her mouth and ate rapidly.

"What… how could you have cured them!?" Duce demanded.

Knuckle smirked. "Like hell we're going to tell you!" he said. "But first thing's first! I'm taking out these knock offs…"

Garou couldn't believe his eyes.

Melee was pale white at the sight.

Street, Knuckle, they… they were alive?

Street peered from the corner of his eyes, but that was when Garou realized, he had eyes like Genos. "Hey baby bro, thanks for keeping sis safe. Now… we got to fix you two up. This is gonna hurt…" Street reached for Garou's shoulder as he gently pulled him away from Melee, before he could question his motives, he gasped as Street's hand plunged into his stomach, piercing it! Garou trembled from the strike as he tasted blood. Yet when Street pulled back, he revealed his hand. It was black chrome and yet his index finger appeared clear yet held the black bile he's been vomiting. "Now the unpleasant part on my end…"

Street shot the bile into his mouth and drank it, a look of disgust followed as Knuckle shuttered since he did the same thing to Melee. "Oh God, you've been puking that shit up for how long!?" he demanded.

"You… you two…. You're dead!" protested Duce. Then he trembled. "Why did you ingest that?!"

Knuckle unleashed a massive burp as he struggled slightly to keep the bile down. "Who the fuck are you?" he demanded, but then paused. "Shit," he growled. "You ain't the one we're after. Shame though, we are going to take our anger out on you anyways… and seriously, what the fuck are these things!... is that MY face?!" Knuckle demanded pointing to one of the mutant creations. "Shit, it looks like I got an ass face and can't get the turd out of the ass crack! You're gonna pay for using my mug on that thing!"

"Ah, bro, remember…"

"Yeah… Okay, it's ready!" Garou saw Street's left hand. The skin somehow pulled back and revealed the black metal chrome once more! He was suddenly struck again, but this time he felt something inject into him. "Easy baby bro, temporary pain, I assure you." With that, Garou dropped to his knees, his whole body revolted as he could feel something wrench up his throat once more. His body broke into a convulsion, everything within him began to shift and churn.

He couldn't contain himself as he vomited the black bile, but this felt different. All his energy went into it, down to his toes he felt every bit of the shit wrench up and out of his body! When it was done, he fell over on to his side, shaking, trembling… starving!

"Here little bro, eat this, it will tie you over for now." Street said as he shoved a strange dry substance into his mouth. Garou didn't refuse, he was so desperate for something to eat, and he would take anything!

As he chewed the dry offering, his eyes shifted to Melee, she was shivering from it all. Knuckle leaned down and offered her the same dried food Street gave him. "Little bites sis, don't force yourself to eat it all at once…" he said gently. She did at first, until the hunger got the better of her too. She shoved the whole thing into her mouth and ate rapidly.

"What… how could you have cured them!?" Duce demanded.

Knuckle smirked. "Like hell we're going to tell you!" he said. "But first thing's first! I'm taking out these knock offs…"

"You ain't getting all the fun out of that!" warned Street.

The two stood perfectly calm as they stared down the Kabutos. Garou began to feel himself healing and growing a little stronger, yet, he was curious to what the brothers were going to do. Knuckle suddenly began to grow out. His arms and legs appeared to put on muscle mass in an instant, his chest swelled as he swore he heard turbines!

Street was the same way, then, their bodies began to smoke…

"BBBRRRAWWWLLLL!" they howled.

Then, they vanished!

Garou could see them, just barely as his vision started to clear. They moved faster than Flash, the first two Kabutos were smashed into the wall like bugs! Blood and gore spread throughout the floor as Duce himself became drenched in the remains of his creations! The other two tried to go into 'Carnage mode' yet, as they were mid way through the transformation. Knuckle went under one and stuck a strong blow under the chin. The head tore right off!

Street on the other hand ran right into the last of the monsters, a mere slash from his arm and he severed it into two! As the body slowly slumped to the ground, their sights turned to Duce. Already he was planning his escape. A new door appeared as he tried to sneak out through it. Yet as he tried to escape, Melee began to tremble, surges of power began to come off her body as she suddenly got to her feet and dashed towards him. In the blink of an eye she cut him off! Then, Garou saw it. Her eyes changed… they looked just like Boros's!

"Going somewhere asshole?" she demanded in a seething tone.

She kept a solid grip on the clone as he began to plead for his life. "No, please! I didn't mean to cause…"

"Shut the hell up" she hissed. Her hands wrapped around his throat as she began to choke the life out of him.

"Sis… there's suffering and then there's justice!" called Street. He approached and smiled. "And I got just the punishment…" He showed his right hand, as the flesh suddenly oozed back and revealed the robotics under it. "That little virus you gave my sis and baby bro back there did a number to say the least…" the metal in his middle finger pulled shifted and retrofitted itself and revealed a clear cylinder… filling with black ooze. "Let's see how you like it." With a quick thrust of his hand, he jabbed the clone and emptied the contents into it. It froze as suddenly the virus spread.

"No… no please! Don't do this!... Oh God…" it broke from Melee's grasp to vomit the same black bile they did.

"Don't worry this won't take too long… it will just overwhelm your system… and kill you. Now…" Street paused as he stared down Melee and then shifted his focus to Garou. "Why the hell are you two here, fighting no less four dragon level threats in such a weakened state?!" Street demanded.

Melee however kept staring down at the clone when it suddenly died choking on the black bile.

"Pac… my son Pac… Our son was taken." Garou explained. "We came to save him, despite our state, our kids matter more than our own health."

"In your condition?! You two are nuts!" Knuckle protested.

Melee calmed herself down, the surging vanished as she then stared into the faces of her brothers. She was stunned silent, unable to speak at first. "How… just… how?" she whispered.

"Oh, well, we're still trying to figure that out too sis. One moment we knew we were dying, next thing we know, we wake up and are all robot like… but that weird blue guy's voice said there is much to explain, but we were needed first… Borat or something…"

"Boros?" whispered Garou. "You were his project?!"

"What project?" demanded Street. "He called us a project?"

Melee began to weep. "Hell he could have called you an arts and crafts hobby, I don't give a damn! You're here! You're actually here!" She threw her arms around Street and refused to let go as she wept. "I don't ever want to lose you again."

"Melee, reunion later. We got to find our son!" Garou stated.

"HEY! ANYONE ELSE HERE?"

"Short Stack?" Muttered Knuckle. Peering down the hall, Garou saw Metal Bat. He had someone sling across his shoulder and dragged them about calling out to see if anyone else was here.

"BAD! DOWN HERE!" shouted Garou.

When he saw Garou, Bad turned and began to come down the hall. Garou however froze at the sight of his son. But relief, it appeared just like when he was Awakened Garou, it was a mere shell around his body.

Bad made his way down and joined them. He smiled at first. "Hey… Look who I found!" Yet froze as his eyes came upon the Brawler Brothers. "What the actual fuck!" he demanded

He froze at the sight of Street and Knuckle. Both of them were wearing strange black pants and a sleeveless t-shirt of all things. "Yeah, we're just as confused about this as you are. Needless to say we ain't really human!"

Bad turned to Garou and then to Melee. "Seriously?!"

"Later, let's get the hell out. Wait, where's Zenko?" asked Melee.

"In Pac's side, he's out cold right now, he won't let her go."

"He doesn't feel safe, come on, let's get out of here and see what we can do. We got to burn this place to the ground…" Garou muttered.

"Oh, leave that to me!" Knuckles said with a grin. "I wanna try something out."

#

They managed to get back above ground.

There wasn't a test subject or clone to be seen. If they are still down there, they are going to be trapped, not that anyone cared at this point. When they reached topside once more, Knuckle asked for some space. "Stand back, I don't know the extent of damage that I am gonna do, but let's find out!"

Everyone kept their distance. In fact, they moved far away from the facility yet had a perfect view near a small mountaintop. Street rolled his eyes to it all. "I can't say I don't blame him in wanting to try something… But taking down a whole underground facility…"

Everyone paused as Knuckle suddenly launched into the air; the sound barrier broke and the back draft alone startled Garou as he felt the power from that lone leap! "Whoa… not even Genos can jump that high without boosters." Garou muttered.

He became nothing more than a dot in the sky when he suddenly came down howling.

"BBBBBRRRRRRAAAAWWWWWLLLLLL!"

At the moment of impact, the earth shook underfoot! Melee and Garou could barely keep to their feet, Bad fell flat on his ass as Street stood perfectly fine! The whole mountain collapsed into it self, it was nothing more than a smoldering crater!

"SHIT!" shouted Bad.

"Wow…I'm impressed, to think before we would be luck to break the ground a good foot or two…" Street muttered.

Knuckle then made a dead jump from where he stood to where everyone had gathered. The smile on his face couldn't be contained. "You see that! One jump, one shot! BAM that place is no more!" he said proudly.

"Yeah… now let's get the hell out of here." Garou announced. But he still felt off. His body recovered but now, he was starving. "I got to eat…"

"Bad, you go with Street and sis. Take Pac and your sister to wherever they need to be. I'll go hunt with baby bro!" Knuckle announced.

"Yeah… yeah sure." Garou watched as Street help up Melee as they made their way down the mountains. Knuckle on the other hand was grinning from ear to ear.

"So. Baby bro is hungry huh? Let's get that appetite of yours something to enjoy!" He began to peer about the woods, until something caught his attention. "Bingo."

"Wait, you found something already?"

"Yeah, let's go before it gets away!" Knuckle wrapped his arm around Garou's side, with another leap. He cleared half the forest! In fact, he managed to jump right where he found a nice big monster.

Garou began to salivate at the sight of it!


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Street tried to process it all.

He remembered strange things before he woke. For example. "Toxins have no effect against you, however when ingested, you can self remedy as well as heal others creating a counter elixir" being one of them. Another was. "You have sense of touch but no concept of pain." Little things that would fill his ears until the moment his eyes opened, but it didn't feel right or natural to say the least. He kept seeing numbers, statistics and strange indications before him. Then he heard a machine power up and announced. "Assimilation complete. 100% success." When his eyes did focus on the world before him, he felt strange. Granted, he couldn't really feel anything at first until he thought of moving his hands. Then, the sensation came. Slowly at first. "What the hell happened?" he muttered.

To his left, he saw Knuckle, yet froze at the sight. He was on a metal slab of a table, yet there were these tubes and wires coming out from all over his body! His whole frame was black chrome, there was only a small portion of him with human flesh and that was his face. "What the hell… BRO!" he called. Then, the same machine sound was heard. "Assimilation complete. 100% success." The tubes, wires and everything that latched on to him, suddenly disconnected and were pulled up and away from him. Street then froze as something began to ooze out of the metallic body of his brother, covering him from the neck down until he lay there naked. Street peered down at himself, realizing he too was stripped nude. "What's going on… were we probed?!" he asked himself.

Then the room went dark, a hologram appeared of the strange alien Alley adopted. Yet, it didn't speak yet. "My head…" moaned Knuckle as he slowly came too. He took in his surroundings at first, yet when he saw Street he stared at him oddly. "Why the hell are you ass crack naked?"

"So are you!" he snapped back.

He looked down at himself, yet smirk. "At least everything still there!"

"Gentlemen" the hologram spoke. "I am sorry for not being there to personally greet you upon awaking, but much has happened and there is little time to explain. Know this, you were on the brink of death. Taking a poison meant for your sister and her mate. Yet this was fatal to you, slowing eating away at your bodies and would have resulted in a very grueling death. However, it is no longer the case."

"Street!"

He snapped out of his thought as Melee called out his name. "Oh, sorry…" he said.

"You worried me for a moment, you completely blanked out!"

"I did?"

"Yeah, you did!" she protested, then, she fell oddly silent. Her arm around his waist only grew tighter. "I can't believe you're here."

"Same" muttered Bad. "I mean, I saw it with my own two eyes man. That shit they injected into you was turning your body black, then… then…" he turned away, ashamed for what he didn't do.

"I know Bad. Knuckle and I aren't the easiest to carry out of a building. We don't hold it against you, we told you to leave without us. But how did we get out of that was the case?" he muttered the last part to himself.

Bad froze. "You remembered that?"

"Yeah… in fact, I am remembering a lot of stuff right now. It's weird. Like childhood memories, past events that I couldn't even recall before are now clear as day! I mean seriously, I don't even know the full extent to what's happened. I mean… am I a robot or something now?"

"Cyborg?" asked Melee. "If you are, you aren't anything like Genos!"

"No shit, you talk the same way you always did!" said Bad. But he paused as Pac began to moan. His eyes opened briefly. "Huh… where…" he whispered.

Melee gathered her strength as she let go of Street, she rushed to her son and called to him. "Pac? Pac! Are you okay?"

"Mom… I feel… weird…" he whispered. Suddenly, he began to slide out of Bad's grasp. Yet Street was quick to catch him.

"Easy there kiddo, not so fast!" He didn't hesitate as he picked him off the ground and brought him over his shoulder. "Let's get you some place safe first and then we will talk about what happened okay, rest up."

"Zenko… is Zenko okay?"

"You got her, you tell me!"

There was movement coming from Pac's left side, Street paused as he felt a mass shift forward and was pushing out of him. "SIS!" Bad called.

"Big Brother Bat!" Street turned and found Zenko was safely placed into her brother's arms, she began to weep over what happened. "I was so scared Bad… PAC!" she called.

"He's okay, a little different but will be okay." Melee insisted. Bad was quick to strip his jacket and shirt off to cover his sister. She was grateful for the clothing.

Street paused. "This walk is taking too long…" he tilted his head to the side as he felt something click, he picked up a dial tone when a voice came to his ear.

"You got Snek"

"Hey Snake man!"

Street smirked as everyone froze, but his smile grew as he heard silence on the other line. "Who the hell is this?!"

"Snek, Street, long story short, I need a pick up. Melee and Garou are fine, and healing, we got to get Pac looked after but need a lift. Can I borrow your drone?"

Silence again. "Street, who are you talking to? Snek's not here!" she protested.

"Uh… okay…" Snek said on the other line. "How are you…"

"I already called for it, I just wanted to be sure you weren't using it. Thanks! I'll have Melee back soon with Pac, Garou is out hunting with Knuckle. K? Bye!" With that, he disconnected the call.

"Street, you are freaking me out now, who the hell were you talking to?" Melee demanded.

"I think I got cell service in my head. I don't really know just yet… Oh, here's our ride."

She turned and saw Snek's drone coming in. She froze as she turned and stared at him oddly. "How did you… Never mind, I want Pac tended to!"

Street smirked as he got up on the drone with Bad, Melee and Zenko. They will be at the association in no time!

#

"Clear the halls! MOVE IT!"

Suiryu was in command, as he got the call from Snek. Yet he was confused as to who called him. "He said it was Street… but…"

"I know, at the moment let's worry about it later. I want to make sure everyone is okay first." Suiryu announced. Snek said he was going to bring the family in.

It was all hands on deck. Alley rushed to the association to get everything ready. Genus prepared a bed as the door opened.

Suiryu froze at the sight. It was Street Brawler who made the call, but his scent, it was different than from what he remembered. In his arms was Pac, and yet, he didn't look anything like himself. "Shit, kid!" Suiryu muttered.

"Later, show me where the beds are. Tend to Bad and Zenko." Street stated.

"I'll take you, this way," called Melee. As they left to tend to Pac, Suiryu turned to Bad who held his sister tightly.

"Come on Bad, follow me."

Bad however didn't go any farther. "You sure… I can be here. After all, I am a Neo Hero." He said.

Alley rushed in to see what was going on, yet she appeared to have seen her mother led Street down the hall, her focus turned to Bad and Zenko. "Come on Bad, you're welcomed here!" she insisted. "Shit, Zenko, are you hurt? You're bleeding!"

Her face turned red. "Oh…" muttered Suiryu.

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up, I got showers here you can use and we got clothing too." Alley led her away as Suiryu took a deep breath but turned to Bad.

"Seriously… that is Street Brawler isn't it?" he asked.

Bad was just as confused. "He said something about Boros and he was a project…"

Suiryu's face drained of color. "That's what he tried to tell me in his letter…"

"What letter?"

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the letter. Bad read it to himself but was taken aback when Boros mentioned a project that he didn't tell anyone about. "That's what he been doing… turning them into cyborgs!"

"He did a damn good job by the looks of it."

"Damn good? Man, I didn't even think they were until they pulled their skin back!"

They did what?

Suiryu froze at the comment, they pulled their skin back? Genos doesn't even do that! Now he was curious! Venturing down the hall, Suiryu found the room Pac was kept in, yet froze. The kid looked like a demon! The left side of his torso was the only noticeable thing about him, and his dragons were doing everything possible in trying to break the odd monster shell around his body. Pac was awake, yet his eyes appeared panicked. "Mom… this isn't me… is it?" he asked.

She held his hand. "No sweetheart it isn't. Your father went through this too. Deep breaths okay, we're going to get it off of you."

Street stared at him for a moment until he gave a nod. "Step back please sis. Pac, this may hurt for only a moment okay bud? You know I wouldn't do this for the sake of harming you."

Pac nodded his head. Street then went to his bedside as Melee stepped back. Streete placed one hand on Pac's chest when suddenly, Suiryu's ears popped! The pressure in the room instantly changed but whatever the hell he just did, shattered the monster shell right off!

He sat up, gasping for air. Pac appeared normal, yet there were parts of his body that still appeared altered. Including the new tail he grew! He panicked at first when he took notice. He trembled. "Oh God, what did I do? What was I going to do?" he cried.

Melee went back to his side and held him tightly as he wept. "Mom, I nearly hurt her… I nearly hurt Zenko. She told me no, and I almost didn't listen to her. I'm a terrible person… I am a monster!" he wept.

She rubbed his back to settle him down. "You are not, if you were, you would have harmed her. You stopped yourself from doing so. I am SO proud of you." She whispered to him.

Suiryu then felt a gentle slap come on to his chest. "Let's go." Street muttered. "Let them have some time."

He nodded and left the room. The moment the door closed, Suiryu stared at Street. "What the hell did Boros do to you?!" he demanded. "I got to admit… you don't even look like a cyborg to me. Except your eyes, that's the only indication I see visually"

He smiled. "I don't even know what I am yet," he said. "I am still trying to figure that out myself. I woke up when that hologram appeared. It said. 'I have much to explain, but there is a great moment of urgency. You need to go here immediately. You need to save your sister and her mate, only you two can do this.' Knuckle and I were ass naked one moment, we stand up off the damn metal table and somehow became clothed! I don't even think this is clothing to be honest!" he said as he checked the shirt he wore, Suiryu paused as he tried to look at it. It appeared to be material, and yet… it wasn't!

"Your scent is weird too. I mean, I smell organic material, but your more robotic… so where's this smell coming from?"

"I dunno" Street said. "At the moment, I don't really care. I want to ensure the family is looked after."

The two wondered about, yet Street took in all the details of the Association. He marveled at the construction, technology and was surprised to how everything ran and by his niece no less! He marveled at the panels, the electrical conduits and just everything in a sense. Suiryu was confused. "You're really showing that wall some love there…" he said offhandedly.

Street stopped and stared at it for a good five minutes, yet he snapped out of his blank stare. "Sorry, it's just the wiring for this is remarkable, the surge of energy and power isn't matched by typical house hold electrical distribution…"

"NERD!"

Suiryu turned and saw Knuckle approach after shouting out to his brother. "HAHA, made you look!"

"Where's Garou?" asked Street.

Garou made a triumphant return, he came in and appeared to be in far better spirits than before. Only to unleash a massive burp that made the room shutter! "FUCK YEAH, I'M BACK!" he shouted.

"Yeah, he's back alright." Muttered Suiryu but smiled. "I rather have him like this than a husk of his former self… damn, he really does recover fast doesn't he?" His scales were back to their lustrous shine, he appeared to be surging with power now. Knuckle smiled to it all.

"I never knew how much baby bro could eat! Damn, if I didn't know any better and he didn't marry Melee, he would pass off as one of us… granted, a very skinny Brawler no less."

As much as Garou appeared content with himself, he became serious. "Pac…" he said to Suiryu.

"Down the hall. Melee is comforting him. Street got the shell off of his body."

Garou turned and gave an appreciative nod to his brother in law. He left to join his wife and son as Alley returned with Zenko and Bad. Zenko was call cleaned up and was wearing one of Alley's back up outfits. "Shit… I didn't know you made this!" he announced.

Alley smiled. "Labor of love to say the least. Bad… thank you." She said.

"What the hell are you thanking me for? I didn't do nothing. I was going to save my sister."

"Yeah, but still you helped my brother too. Zenko heard you through his scales."

He turned his head. "Yeah, well… he did keep her safe, she told me though about what nearly happened… I don't want him near her for a while…"

"BAD!" Zenko scolded. "It wasn't his fault!"

"Sis…"

"I understand, and I doubt he will be going near her for a while." Said Street. "At the moment he traumatize to what happened, what he nearly did… he's ashamed of himself."

Bad froze to the news. "He is?"

"Hell I would be" said Suiryu. "I know what that's like too. Someone you care about and having no control over your own actions. It's scary as hell man,"

"Take a break from all of this and I am sure it will work itself out." Said Knuckle. "Huh… guess we better go to see Accel about our position. We're not going back to the Neo heroes to say the least."

"Wait, why!?" Bad demanded.

"Well, let's see. We have no idea what the hell we have become, what we can do, let alone how we are doing it. I think our niece here is going to be our best guide on the matter at hand, also. I rather stay here and watch the family first hand than from a far, don't you agree?" asked Knuckle.

Bad sighed to it all. "You know… you two were the best to work with besides Ran and Shaw."

"You mean Bang and Bomb right?" asked Street.

Bad froze. "YOU KNEW?" he demanded.

"It's obvious, not to mention our granddad worked with Bang and Bomb when they were younger. They looked just as they do now! There's a photo of the three of them in the Brawler family history book we got," laughed Knuckle. "But we won't say a word about it, they kept it a secret for a reason."

Bad appeared to have his mind blown to say the least. "I need… I need to…" suddenly he collapsed!

Street caught him before he hit the ground. "Oh yeah, he tends to go overboard when fighting for a while huh?"

"Yep," sighed Zenko. "Alley, I hate to impose…"

"There is more than enough room. I got spare beds on the other side of the association. Let's get Bad some rest, and you something to eat. Come to think of it, mom should be starving, she has yet to get something too…" Alley said offhandedly.

"I'll get her, you two go on ahead." Said Knuckle and gave a wink. The girls headed off, Suiryu decided to follow them and carried Bad to the resting quarters. He just overheard Street sighed aloud as he turned to Knuckle. "Okay, let's get sis situated…"


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Meanwhile.

106 froze.

He saw it all unfold before his eyes and yet, he couldn't believe it. "The Brawlers. I was certain they were dead! They had to have died, that poison was meant to take down Garou and Melee. I took into factor their healing abilities, their strength and tenacity… How could they have survived that! More importantly, how did they become such powerful creations? They are indeed cyborgs, but who did that to them, they are… dare I say, flawless!"

"Master, we have surveyed the wreckage. The damage is beyond repair, all clones including Duce were killed in the strike. We tried to excavate the room for the blood from Garou and his kin, yet found the blood and samples have been scotched beyond salvation."

"Indeed, as they would be so cautious to do so… It matters not, we have a new goal in mind, and we must prepare now to obtain it. I am increasing the dosage for our next subject at hand. The data given to me by both Snek and the offspring of Garou have proven to be quite useful. We know now that it must be done fast, and the potency needs to be extremely high. Take into consideration the will power, strength and resistance of our subject at hand. But also… I want more information on the Brawlers. They have now become something of interest once more."

The order was given, 106 figured he would go back to work to set up for his next stage of testing…

#

Knuckle and Street ventured down the hall, what bothered Knuckle the most was the stares they were given. "What?!" he demanded of the heroes who gawked at them. They were quick to move along as they made it to the medical room Pac was kept. Yet, as they walked in, the brothers froze.

Garou's body opened up as he took in his own son! "Whoa, what the hell…"

"Shhh!" scolded Melee. "I just got him to settle down, Garou will take it from here." She whispered.

Knuckle stared as the dragons that Garou kept coiled around, unraveled and yet they gently held and coxed Pac into Garou's body. From there, he enveloped around him and held his son in place. "Been a while since I did that for him."

"What… the hell did you just do?" asked Street.

Melee smiled. "He did this all the time when the kids were sick, stressed or scared. Right now. Pac is stressed and terrified to what happened. So, Garou will hold on to him and allow Pac to think over and process the event…" she paused as her stomach roared. "Damn, I forgot I was starving!"

"How could you have forgotten!?" demanded Knuckle. "Either way, where the hell do you go to get a bite to eat?"

#

They went up to the cafeteria. There, Melee gorged herself to her heart's content. Many of the heroes stopped and froze at the site. "She's not pregnant again is she?!" said King.

"God no!" Melee protested. "I haven't eaten in months! How the hell do you think I feel!?" she snapped back and continued on her binge.

Yet as she did, Knuckle turned and saw her children rush into the room. "MOM! DAD!"

"Holy shit is that Luna, Eclipsa and Akira?" demanded Street.

The three froze at the sight of them. Well, not just them. Hunter, Draven, Goliath did as well. Snek came as well with his kids but couldn't quite wrap his head around it all. "Okay, seriously, what the hell is going on?" Snek demanded.

"We… don't know either." Said Street. "We don't have a lot of information at this time." But paused. "Since when did you have kids?"

Alley however was quick to enter the cafeteria, she rushed to them and said. "You need to come with me, right now!"

As confused as they were, Knuckle nodded and Street agreed. They excused themselves as they followed her to the lab. There, was a massive screen. "Mother… come in mother, can you hear me?"

"Boros!" she called. "I can hear you but the visual display is not coming in. But I have them here… Street and Knuckle are here."

There was silence at first, until Boros found his words. "Street Brawler, Knuckle Brawler, my apologies for what happened. I was in charge of the rescue mission that was to take you back home safely after your capture… I failed you and the family."

"Don't be too hard on yourself kid, we got brainwashed!" Knuckle called. "But… what did you do to us? What happened?"

Boros went silent once more. "Return to the coordinate where you first woke up, you may not remember what city it was at the time, but rest assured you will find your way back with ease. There will be a holograph waiting for you there to explain what has become of you and in great detail as to how it was done. You have much to learn about your new form, as well as new abilities to say the least."

"New abilities?" whispered Street. "We're really strong, fast and can jump unusually high. Our skin is retractable, and somehow we can make needles out of our fingers…"

They heard Boros chuckle. "You are merely scratching the surface!" he said joyously. "Brawler Brothers, please understand, I spared no expense on ensuring your powerful new states. I used what precious metals I had left from the ship Dark Matter, these materials weren't even available to mother when she was making her Association headquarters!"

"What!" Alley demanded.

"Oh I need to go, I'll call back later, return to the lab and your questions will be answered!" the screen suddenly shut off as Alley suddenly glared at them. Knuckle was a little worried!

"I… don't really like that look."

"Let me see…" she whispered rather sadistically.

Street obliged as he focused on his hand, the skin suddenly pulled back and away revealing the cyborg limb it hid. Alley was quick to inspect it, yet froze. "Shit!" she growled. "He's gotten every detail of the anatomy right! Wait, is this black chrome?"

"Dunno, we woke up with this." Said Knuckle. "Is this really strong metal?"

Alley nodded. "I had a piece or two I managed to salvage from the ship. I couldn't even break it down, melt it, or even get my nano bots to eat and replicate the properties. Your whole bodies are made of this!"

Street took back his hand and stared at it. "It is?" he wondered aloud.

"We need to go to the lab and see how he made this! I have to know how this was done!"

"He did say we are only scratching the surface of it, didn't he?" said Knuckle.

"Yeah… let's do it! Let's go see what else he left!"

"Ooo, it's like Christmas all over again!"

"Grow up Knuckle," scolded Street.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Alley nearly dragged them back to Boros's lab. It was hidden deep with a marshy forest and away from most major cities. Yet as her uncles opened the workshop and walked in, Alley froze at the sight. It appeared to have very little in the ways of tools and technology, yet if he made them there… how did he do it?

She walked about for a bit until she heard a scanner go off. Her uncles got defensive as another hologram appeared. "Greetings, if you are seeing this, I am off world and am not able to explain everything in person. My apologies, this also means that mother has found the lab and is looking for more information about her uncles. Rightfully so. First off, mother, I am sorry I hid this from you." The hologram of Boros explained. "I didn't know if this would work or not, the whole purpose of keeping it secret was to ensure the result, as well as not to get anyone's hopes up. If I failed, I didn't wish for you to feel the loss of your uncles a second time."

"So what the hell did you do to us?" Knuckle demanded.

The hologram paused, almost as if it were listening to the question, but how could it? That or Boros has anticipated the question and it was searching for the answer in the databank made.

"What I did to Street and Knuckle Brawler…" the hologram suddenly warped, the three froze as an image of the two of them were in a suspended animation chamber. "When the Brawler's first arrived the poison had already seeped into the body, it was taken into the bone. Due to it being the first point of contact, the poison leeched into the bone and would spread throughout the body, slowly breaking down every tissue from the inside out. I had managed to get them into suspended animation. It merely delayed the spread. Had I not, it would have consumed them in 56 hours or less. The pain would have been unbearable and the death very excruciating to say the least. Suspended animation slowed down the spread, unfortunately due to the nature of the poison, it would have take a month or two for it to fulfill its duty and end their lives. Time was precious."

"I don't remember any of that…" muttered Street.

The Boros hologram reappeared. "As ironic as the situation was, I was intending on making robot versions of the Brawlers, I found their body type unique to say the least, I had already finished the skeleton aspect of the robot, but since this occurred, I knew they needed to be top of the line, state of the art creations. With lessons learned from mother and thanks to her idea of studying, I managed to replicate the human anatomy quite well. Muscle fibers, bones, joins and sinews were created to ensure that their new forms would feel human to them. However the difficult part came when it was time to transfer the consciousness. There is one thing I used that will not sit well with the family, Mother, I do hope you forgive me. Street and Knuckle Brawler, I am sorry I had to go this route in order to complete you."

"Why do I get a bad feeling about this?" whispered Street.

The image shifted as Boros held a jar in his hand. "This… is alien slime." He explained. "A relatively mindless creature, its sole purpose is to find a organic host to latch and live off of. If possible, or there is another method of its survival but let's just leave it at that for a moment. I wish to explain though that it does offer quite the benefit to those it consumes…"

"Wait… Consumes?!" the brothers demanded.

Even Alley was rendered silent. "It was used on my ship quite often, if a warrior lost a limb and is unable to regenerate, the slime was used, it would consume the limb then attach itself to the host, replacing the lost limb. The slime is rather content to live out the rest of its days on its host, they don't die of natural causes. In fact, I have yet to read an incident when it does. If the host dies it merely detaches itself, reverts back to its pervious form and searched for a new host."

"Still not liking where this is going…" said Alley.

"Now… for what it was used for… Brawlers, alien slime has a property and ability to render all toxins admitted into the body voided. It is immune to all effect, and will create a counter measure against it when such a poison enters the system. I had thought it could have cured you, but, in order for it to do so, it had to devour the infections… which was already in 89% of your bones."

Knuckle began to shutter. "I really… REALLY don't like where this is going."

The hologram continued. "I was able to program the slime for a simple task… devour all but the brain, heart and nervous system. In doing so, it took everything else, consumed the body… until it made your skin."

Alley froze as her uncle stared at each other very oddly, Knuckle was picking at the alien slime flesh on his arms, almost disgusted with it now. "It… ate us?" he whispered. "It ate… our bodies…"

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!" Street roared in anger.

"There was no other way to save you, there was no other way for the slime to render the poison voided until it consumed the infection. However, despite this, it has replicated your bodies perfectly. The slime has many abilities, taking in toxins and curing them, it has become an automatic filter for such a thing, I am certain at this point you have used it by now."

"He has a point, it's how we cured Melee and Garou…" muttered Street.

"But it can do so much more. In fact, try this at any given point. Consume monster flesh. Elder inspired me for this, I have to thank him for such a notion. When you eat the flesh of an enemy or even drink the blood of an ally, you can gain their strength and talents!"

"Huh? We… can grow stronger?" said Knuckle. "How the hell does that even work!?"

"This is all trial and error for you Brawlers, but please learn how to use every bit of the information and abilities you possess. Your bodies are upgraded to the peek of perfection. I have witnessed on Genos and his abilities, you are able to do everything he can, but better. Any other machine monster or cyborg you encounter, you can analyze and study their movements and make them your own. Even human opponents. But, you are better to drink their blood to obtain the highest form of their abilities."

"So… were cyborg vampires?" whispered Knuckle. "How fucked is this?"

"Then again, we did drink black bile that made Melee and Garou sick, turned it into a cure and saved them… so it's possible now… wait… I got to know. If we're cyborgs, why did you save our hearts?" he asked aloud.

The hologram paused, but then came back with a smile. "Brawler hearts are some of the strongest I have ever seen. It's merely a decoration for you, but if a time comes when someone may need it, it is still viable to use."

"Boros, what is their power supply?" Alley asked aloud.

"Power supply?" the Brawlers questioned.

"Power supply. The same that us used on the dark matter thieves ship. There were smaller ones created and contained unlimited power. Each of the Brawlers possess on power core in their chests. It is encased in the same metal that their bodies are made from, there is also no self destruction code for them either. I don't care for selfless sacrifices"

Street flopped down on the closest chair he could fine. It was all so much to take in. "Shit… shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIT!" he said aloud. "I mean… how… what…. I am so goddamn confused right now!"

Knuckle was silent.

"Hologram off." She called, the image of Boros disappeared as she turned to her uncles. "I'll help you!" she vowed. "Uncle Street, Uncle Knuckle. I will do everything in my power to help you understand what he made you into. I know he did to it save your lives…"

"That ain't it kid," said Knuckle. He stared down at his hands before turning to Alley. "How do we even know we are us anymore? I feel like me… but I ain't me. I am nothing like what I use to be, and yet how do I come to terms with it?"

"I feel like this is what would have happened to use when we woke up before realizing we were clones. The madness Dr. Evo warned us about and Dr. Genus." Said Street. "Yet, I don't feel as if I lost my mind. I am merely trying to comprehend going from being human to some sort of overpowered tin can!"

"You're not tin cans!" she protested. "Boros… Boros wanted you to be strong. He heard that you were attempting to gain strength so you could look out for mom and for us. Perhaps this was the only he knew he could do such a thing for you," she explained. "You… saved my mom and dad… just in time. Had you not been there with that ability… I know I would have lost them, and my brother Pac. He would still be trapped! It will be difficult to understand now, but perhaps, over time it will be easier to see what he has done for you…"

The two sighed aloud. "Well, I suppose it could be fun." Said Knuckle. "I haven't seen this Genos guy in action, but perhaps if we do, we can get some sort of jollies out of it all"

"True, I mean, you did collapse a mountain side!" said Street.

"Yeah, that was pretty epic…" the brothers paused and nodded. "Okay, Alley let's go back. Let's do some tests and see what we can do!"

"Perfect!" she announced. "Oh, wait." Reaching to her side, she took out a letter Boros wrote her. There were three areas of the lab he wanted her to see, a shelf on the far back left corner with a notebook, she was to take that. A book in a small pull out drawer on the right side of the lab, near the door and finally an odd looking key he taped under the desk. She'll figure out soon enough what he has in store for her, but for now. She wanted to test her uncles out!


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Alley went to her lab and studied the notes, for the time being she insisted her uncles take a moment to relax and perhaps if they wanted to try and learn things on their own, they are welcomed to. "I'm going to be a while looking over everything Boros left behind. I will come back to you the moment I have more information…"

"Hey Alley! Anything to do today?"

The brothers paused and turned as they saw Saitama and Genos approach. Alley's eyes widened. "Perfect time. Genos, I need you!"

"What is the situation? Is it level dragon?" he asked.

"My God, robots really sounds like that?" muttered Street.

"Cyborg, and most of them do." Alley corrected. She shoved her uncles a little closer to the demon cyborg. "I need you to train my uncles up a bit."

"Train…" he paused and looked them over. Genos suddenly was taken aback. "You… are cyborgs… like me… and yet, you appear human," he said with great fascination.

"Wait, wait, wait… Boros said we can do everything Genos can do right… this is the Genos he is speaking of?" asked Street.

"The very same." Alley explained.

Suddenly a smirk came over Knuckle as he turned to Genos. "So… Demon Cyborg is it? Show me how much of a demon you are!" he said with great excitement.

Saitama managed to slip pass the brothers before he gently nudged Alley in the arm. "Are they really your uncles? Granted I can see them being related to Garou more than anything… also are they really like Genos?" he whispered.

"Answering the first question, yes, mom's side if you can believe it. Then again, perhaps this explains why she and dad get along so well. Second. Yes, they are cyborgs but have NO idea what they can do. According to Boros, anything Genos is capable of, they are too. But… they haven't seen Genos in action."

Saitama paused. "Well, might as well see what they can do. Genos!"

"YES MASTER!"

"Huh… master?" muttered Street.

"Long story, anyways. Show these two what you can do, let's make a game of this. Follow the leader in a sense. What Genos does, you two do. Sounds good?" suggested Saitama.

"But Master, we do not know who or what these cyborgs stand for. No one has seen such a refined machine like this ever, not even myself."

"They are my uncles" protested Alley. "Genos, at the moment it would be a great help if you could assist them. The more they know the better they can help us when needed."

"I see, training the new recruits. Very well, only because Master suggested it, you two, with me."

"Where are you going to train them? The sparring room won't be able to contain his fire power." Saitama asked.

"Just like what we have at home, there's a massive training pit out back. Boros made that before the left when it was a 'light' sparring session with my brothers." She sighed to it all. "Saitama, would you mind watching them as I read up on Boros's notes about them. I would appreciate the help."

"After some hot pot" he said.

#

Street was curious, then again his eyes began to see things that he never could before. At that moment, he was visually dissecting Genos before his eyes. Knuckle even froze as he shook his head to it all. "What the hell is with these things I am seeing? Are these schematics and blue prints of Genos?" he whispered to his brother.

Street nodded. "They are, every bit and piece of him is before my eyes… I see every weak point he possesses, every weapon on hand, even the strength of his power core. It's impressive, yet…" he paused and turned to Knuckle, staring at his brother he peered through the alien slime, the black chrome and then found the power core in his chest. He fell oddly silent as he registered its power. "Oh shit…" he whispered.

"What did you find?" whispered Knuckle.

"How do I explain this… uh… it's like we have the power of maybe… two suns in our bodies… give or take…"

Knuckle fell oddly silent. "Oh…" he whispered. "I can see why there is no self destruct button on us… thank God too!"

"Have you two been cyborgs long?" Genos asked.

The brothers froze to the question as he turned to face them. "I have been a cyborg for many years and there are still aspect I am adjusting too. I have yet to find the crazed one that destroyed my home and killed my family. My quest has not ended on that, as well I have hoped to reach a new level of strength by now since training with master. Master is very strong and I have learned much from him, but still have a long ways to go before achieving his level of strength…"

"Holy chatter box." Muttered Knuckle. "Look, all the more power to you man, but we're still trying to sort this shit out. I mean… we were dead… and apparently our bodies got devoured by an alien slime that now mimics our old body form! I mean… shit man, do you have ANY idea how we feel right now? We're wearing a goddamn alien slime for flesh!"

"Huh, your skin did look a little too realistic to be real, I was about to ask if your creator somehow saved your old skin and was able to manipulate it over the metal frames of your bodies to maintain your human appearance…"

The comment made the brothers freeze for a moment. "You know… this ain't so bad." Street said aloud.

"I think I am starting to appreciate the notion of alien skin"

"HEY BRAWLERS!" The brothers turned and saw Snek slinking towards them. "Mind if I watch?" he asked. "Alley wanted me to see this up close."

"Sure… what about your kids? Also where the hell did those kids come from?" questioned Knuckle.

Snek gave him a glare. "Triplets are looking after them. And as to where they came from, you don't want to know!" he warned.

"Okay…"

"Come, the pit is outside. I have much to show you." Genos called.

They made their way outside, the so called 'pit' was really a massive crater to say the least. "That should be deep enough. Okay, let's do this!" called Street.

Snek kept above, yet kept watch to the action. Genos stood before the Brawlers and announced. "Master has suggested that this become like a game, follow the leader. So you need to mimic what I do. Are you capable?" he asked.

They stared at their hands for a moment. "Sure?" said Knuckle.

"Very well, let's begin with something basic." Lifting his right arm, Genos aimed his palm out and fired a single shot. A powerful beam of energy that exploded in the distance. "Now, you try it."

Street was apprehensive on the idea, yet he saw how it worked, his mind already picked up on the logistics of the motion, and so he mimicked the movement. His hand went up, the slime pulled back as he felt power surge from his chest, down his arm and out through his palm!

KABOOM!

The energy was more powerful, the explosion greater than what Genos summoned.

"Ooo, me next!" Knuckle barely waited his turn as he fired a shot of his own, it was equaled to Street's blast.

"Fascinating, you possess great fire power, greater than my own." Genos stated.

"Thanks Captain Obvious!" snickered Knuckle. "What else you got?"

For the next two hours it became an intense game of follow the leader. Street and Knuckle managed to match Genos in everything he could do, but also did it greater than himself! Their firepower was double, despite the fact they weren't really trying. Genos appeared rather amazed himself to the brothers, yet in the end, he appeared rather disappointed in himself. "I have trained with master for many years and yet, two you, just became cyborgs and have already bested me at everything I am capable of."

"Whoa, hold it there. Look, Genos. We didn't know we could do any of this stuff!" Street explained. "To us, you are the master of this. We're just beginners getting our feet wet no less."

"And yet, you have both surpassed me."

"Genos, listen, it isn't about fire power. It's what you can do with it," said Knuckle. "We ain't looking to take your thunder here. You're master isn't going to care about our progress. It's yours! Besides, we would be powerless if you hadn't shown us what you could do. Now that we have a general idea, my brother and I know we have a way of not just defending ourselves, but our family too. For that, you have our thanks to say the least."

Genos said nothing more as they made their way out of the pit. Snek was still there, coiled and witnessed everything that happened. Genos went on ahead, the brothers were about to follow but were stopped by the snake man. "Hold it." He said.

"Did we do something wrong?" asked Street.

"No, but you upset him a little. I can't read cyborgs as good as I do people, but I know a tone of one being upset when I hear it. Not like you two had any idea what you were capable of to begin with right?"

Street sighed. "I still don't get it… I really don't. Perhaps this is why cyborgs are so emotionless, they don't have to deal with shit like this."

"So you gonna tell us about those kids of yours or what!" demanded Knuckle.

Snek glared at him, but sighed. "Have a seat, it's a long winded tale. But you do NOT breath a word of it to anyone else! Got it!" he demanded.

Knuckles cracked a smile. "Ooo, I already know this is going to be a good one." He took a seat, as did Street.

Snek began his explanation and told them of the events that happened shortly after they were 'killed'…


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

"You're serious… aren't you?"

Alley nodded. She just finished going over the notes Boros left for her. Already she felt her head swimming. "I had no idea he was capable of such a thing. Genus, this is a whole different level of development!" she said.

Genus too went over the notes and found himself at a loss to it all. The details, mapping and manipulation of materials to make everything work, but also the adjustments that each of the parts goes through so the limbs could be ambidextrous was beyond his understanding. "Boros was really something else, wasn't he?"

"I suppose when one is given something else to focus on, they may become obsessed with the notion. Consider how he was training before for the sake of strength, yet when he turned his attention to creating, construction and forging. It was like a whole new form of strength for him! Still… how on earth did he do this in such a short time?"

"As I recalled, you never pressured him to stay and spend time with the family, you allowed him to freely pursue his passion project to say the least."

Alley nodded. Any time she would ask him to stay around, there was a look in his eye, almost of desperation that he had to go immediately to finish what he started. She felt the urgency in his voice and his plea was one that convince her that he had to go and finish. She never argued with him on the matter at hand, she believed full heartedly that he was doing something positive and constructive.

"Alley, I need to admit this… this is beyond me." Genus said. "I cannot even fathom the logistics of all of this… It was if he were thinking on a while different level. I mean… have you even heard of an alien slime?" he asked. "Perhaps if I devoted at least a year to this I could grasp the basics…"

"I haven't heard of alien slime either and my uncles were not the least bit thrill to learn that their skin is made of it after that thing devoured their real bodies. According to Boros's notes, after he took my uncles out of suspended animation. He placed them in the shell of the cyborgs he was making, and then place the slime on top of them. It… devoured everything except for the heart, brain and nervous system. The nerves he fused to the metal, so they had their senses. Yet… how did they survive that!? I mean being eaten alive by a slime!" she said aloud.

Genus shook his head to it all. "I am still attempting to wrap my head around it…"

She paused from her notes, just as a knock came on to the door. "Enter!" she called.

Snek slithered in. "Thanks for doing that, how did it go?"

There was a confused look on Snek. "Do cyborgs get depressed?" he asked oddly.

"Huh? Are my uncles upset about something?"

"No, Genos is!" He told them about the training session, despite the fact her uncles weren't even trying, they were displaying power that was double of what Genos could do. Since then, he has been rather upset on the notion. "Needless to say, your uncles are not powerless anymore"

"No shit," she muttered. "I've been reading Boros's notes… Snek I had NO idea he was capable of such a thing!"

He smirked. "You're the one that taught him to broaden his perspective did you not? He took it to heart."

She sighed to it all. "I am trying to understand what he did to my uncles. I mean, they can mimic someone's abilities if they have observed them long enough. If they INGEST something say blood of a hero or flesh of a monster, they gain that ability for themselves. Despite the observation, they take in that DNA, they will nearly be that hero or monster's equal in talent and strength."

"Huh?" muttered Snek. "So… if they took a taste of my blood… they could do what I do in a sense? Like powerful grip, biting snake fist combat?"

"I think so…" she said with great uncertainty. "I am still trying to process all of this…"

"Join the club. You've seen my kids as of late? All they want to do is sleep, feed and have baby snake sung to them. I swear to God, if Luna sings it one more time…"

Genus snickered. "Ah children, simple things make them so happy." He said with a sigh.

"Never thought of it like that, won't be long until they are teenagers to say the least."

Alley snickered to the two talk about being parents. It also made her remember what Suiryu said before. It was shortly after Boros left, the world settled and things were calmer. She was in the lab, taking a moment for herself. Despite the fact that Boros wasn't her child, he felt like a son to her. The moment he left, she did everything she could to appear brave. Yet at the lab, she wept.

He was gone.

Suiryu accidently walked in on her weeping, already missing their adopted son. Granted she would see him again, but didn't know when or how. He didn't say anything at first. Instead, Suiryu brought her into his arms and cuddled her close to him. "I miss him already," she whispered in his chest. "I didn't think I would, but… we raised him."

"I know," he whispered back. "But, it goes to show, we are capable of being a caring mother and father doesn't it?" he asked. Alley paused as she slowly stared up at him. His smile only grew. "I know now that I can be a good father, so, you think we would be ready for our own children?"

She froze to the news. He wants children now? Before he was against the idea, Suiryu was too care free to consider the idea and thought children would bog him down or he would lose a sense of 'coolness' to himself. Yet, with the incidences they have had, she saw him man up, take care of a child and was good at it.

"Suiryu…"

"I know, you're still young, but it's something to consider. How about this, we kill this damn clone causing the family grief, then, you and I will start a family. How about that? Or, whenever you are ready…"

She kissed him.

She couldn't explain why but Alley just caught him off guard and kissed him for everything he said. When she pulled away, a smile came over her. "I never thought… you would be the one to suggest having a family." She whispered.

He blushed. "Yeah… well…" he said nervously and scratched the back of his head. "I just thought maybe… I needed to grow up a little before considering the idea of a family, I think I have…"

"You have." She insisted.

"So… something to think about?"

"Defiantly!"

"Earth to Alley, earth to Alley, do you read me!"

She snapped from her thought as Snek appeared just in front of her. She nearly fell out of her chair startled to his actions. "Sorry…"

"Own little world there huh? Well, anyway, I got to take the kids out and get them fed… I better start weaning them sooner than later." Snek announced.

As he slithered off, Genus froze. "Weaning?…"

"It's nothing, it won't be long until he has to teach them to hunt."

"Ah, I still find it strange that he will have to teach his children the art of the kill." Genus said offhandedly.

Alley was rather surprised to his comment. "Really?" she asked with a rather odd tone, "You mean to tell me you haven't seen what your own son is doing?"

"Gene?"

"The other one." She said. "I know he comes in with you when he's not working at the shop. In fact, he times it just right to train under a certain someone who he happens to share DNA with…"

Genus's face drained of color, he suddenly rushed out of the lab shouting. "JASON!"


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Street decided to explore a little more of the association. Knuckle went to find Melee and catch up with her, yet Street wanted to see everything this place had to offer. There was fabrications, training, eating, meeting and sleeping quarters. He just so happened to have stopped by the training room where a young kid was facing an older version of himself. "Wait… I heard of this guy before, Zombieman, right?" he thought.

The two were going at it hard with swords of all things. Jason was good but Zombieman was better. Yet, as reckless as Jason was, Zombieman wasn't the least bit afraid of the swords. Although he cringed when Zombiman's left arm was hacked off!

"Oh God…" he muttered, yet Zombieman peered down. "Nice shot." Before reaching down for the severed limb. In mere seconds, the limb was placed back on the stub, healed and was as good as new again!

"Sorry. I should be more careful." Jason announced.

"Wait, is this his kid or something? No… Genus claimed that Jason was his son before didn't he? Then, why do they look alike… unless… Oh…" Street muttered as he figured out what was going on. Jason was a clone!

He paused as suddenly, Dr. Genus rushed into the room. "BOTH OF YOU STOP AT ONCE!" he ordered.

The two paused. "Dad, it was just getting good! I am getting better with my technique!"

"Yeah, what's the big deal?" asked Zombieman.

Genus lost it. "He doesn't have your regeneration abilities!" he scolded. "You harm him, he's will be hurt or killed, there is no rapid healing in his body!"

Street decided to move along shortly after that. Yet as he walked, he found another training room. There was Lightning Max and he was taking on six young heroes at a time. Their teamwork was good, but Max was too strong. He overwhelmed them with not his power, but strength and speed. The heroes were knocked back, flat on their asses and couldn't get back up again. "We'll call it for now. But well done, everyone, that was demon level, you have greatly improved!"

As the heroes left, Max was the last to leave until he saw him. At first, the hero froze at the sight before squinting his eyes. "Street?" he asked.

"Yeah…"

"How… I heard you…"

"I did… again… sort of… I think… I really don't know at this point, but I am a cyborg now if you can believe that."

Max still appeared confused. "You don't sound like one…"

"No shit, I'm grateful too, I mean, I would ax myself if I sounded so monotone all the time!" he whispered.

He got a chuckled out of him, Street smirked as he looked to the training room. "So you are taking this seriously huh? Training the next generation of heroes?"

"We took it seriously after what happened to you and Knuckle… is he…"

"Yeah, he's with sis, same thing though, but still, man. I don't even know what the hell I am going anymore!"

"Wanna get something to eat and talk about it?"

"What the hell, it's not like I am going anywhere any time soon!"

Max suggested they leave the association, they would go into City P close by and gave a bite. As they walked outside, Max was able to go airborne! He could use electrical current to propel himself up off the ground. Street however tried to think of a faster method of transpiration. '_Flight ability, do you wish to activate?_' came a voice in his head.

"Huh? Flight ability?"

"You say something?" asked Max.

"Yeah, my head has a voice, sounds like me asking if I want to activate flight ability. Uh, guess so?"

'_Anti gravitational ability active_,'

Next thing he knew, Street was floating up off the ground. "WHOA!" he shouted as he began to spin and tumble in the air. Max was quick to rush over to him and get him balanced. "How are you…"

"I don't know, I really don't…"

'_Antigravity and artificial gravity is installed, device allows user to float or remain grounded depending on area of location…_' said the voice in his head.

"Street?" Max asked with a worried look on his face.

"Did I say something aloud?"

"No, but you were out of it."

"Oh… well apparently I got something in me that allows me to control the gravity around my body… let's see, I am at light gravity, so I don't accidently fly off into space… but yet I can float…"

Max was a little confused to it all, however shrugged his shoulders. "Want me to guide to the restaurant? You float, I'll drive?"

"What the hell, why not!"

Max smirked as he took one of his tentacles out, he wrapped it around Street's waist as the two took off. Despite how it looked, Max was still a little sketchy with his flight ability. "So, how are you doing this?" Street asked.

Max smirked. "The earth's core is magnetic, right?" he asked with a smirk. "I found the proper frequency of electricity and use it to crated an opposite charge, so I can repel myself off the ground and into the sky, but not too much so I don't fly out of orbit like you said earlier."

Street paused and stared at Max, he was right in how he was flying. His body gave off a charge that was opposite to the earth's magnetic field, however. He has difficulty maintaining it. Perhaps it's because of the change in atmosphere and environment. 'Why the hell are you thinking about this!?' Street asked himself.

He snapped out of it as his body jolted down. Max was on the street, yet he was still hovering. "Uh… gravity on?" he said aloud.

Next thing he knew he was flat on his ass! Street jolted as his ass hit the ground. He felt it… oddly enough. However it didn't hurt, it just registered that he landed a little harder than anticipated. "So, what are you up for?" Max asked.

"Whatever you want to do, I don't even know if I eat!" Street said, but this he felt something. His body shuttered as if there were a stomach rumbling in hunger. He froze, stunned to say the least to his body's reaction. "I… don't think I have a stomach and yet, I feel like I could eat."

Max smirked as he took Street to one of his favorite places. They served a great Ramen bowl and they could upsize it to a massive pot if need be. The place wasn't too busy and the chief knew Max right away. "MAX! The usual?"

"Please, and the pot size for my friend here."

The chief looked at Street and was stunned. "You sure a pot will feed him?"

"We won't know until we try!"

The two sat in silence as they waited for their meal. Street stared off in the distance for a moment until Max said. "You don't act any differently than before."

For a moment, his words took him aback. "Wait, what?"

Max took out his chopstick and prepared his table for the feast. "You think you've changed… you haven't in my eyes. You still act like yourself, you still care about the people around you. You may not feel the same. I get that. I've been there too, but you're still Street Brawler. I've changed a lot too, just like you. I used to be human. However, despite what I have become, I am still Lightning Max, right?"

He never saw it like that before. Then again, the people he should be talking to would be Melee, Garou and the other martial artists that got turned. In a sense, it must be how they felt when they first became these half monster people. "Shit," he muttered. "I never thought of it like that."

Max snickered. "Don't take it so hard. You went through hell!"

"Order up!"

Street paused as he stared at the side of his ramen bowl. Despite the fact it was "pot size" the bowl was massive! A large round bowl nearly the size of a serving platter, yet deep. "Thank you for the meal!" he and Max announced at the same time.

Still, Street was leery about eating it, he was a cyborg after all. His eyes were already scanning the contents, processing the data before him. Yet, his mouth was salivating. With a gulp of anticipation, he took his chopsticks and reached for a single sliver of meat. Slowly be brought it up to his lips and gently tucked it into his mouth.

Flavor!

There was flavor! He could taste it! The salty broth, the umami sensation that covered his pallet, the hint of egg and gently caress of the green onion mixed into the meat itself. He then took another mouthful, then another… it got to the point people were stopping and staring at the strange man and the massive bowl of ramen! He devoured the whole thing within ten minutes. Max was barely through his meal when Street finished. "Wow! That's damn good! ANOTHER!" he called.

"Seriously?" whispered Max.

"I can still eat! Another bowl please, just as big!"

The chief happened to have made extras and the bowl was brought out immediately. Once more he wolfed it down, Street tasted everything in the ramen. Yet as he finished, he gained the sense of satisfaction from the meal. "I don't have a stomach and yet. I ate it!" he said with great confusion.

'_Answer_' came the voice off in his head. '_Space created in body for deposit of food, body is able to sustain itself converting food to bio fuel, as well, feed the slime that maintains the body. There is nothing that can be eaten that would harm the slime, food portioning is recommended, current intake 75%, interpreted as satisfaction level._'

"This is getting freaky…"

"What did you say?" Max asked between mouthfuls.

"Oh, nothing… Max… I hate to say this but… mind handling the bill? I don't got a yen on me."

He smiled. "No worries, you get the next one."


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Knuckle found his way back to the cafeteria. His sister just finished eating and appeared content, when she was done her children clamored over her. "MOM'S BETTER!" cheered Luna.

"SO IS DAD!" yelled Eclipsa as the two embraced their parents fullheartedly.

Knuckle felt a little jealous of his sis, after all, she managed to have a family. Now, he figured he won't be able to. But enough of that, he put the thought off to the side as he walked in. "So, everyone's better now huh?" he asked.

Melee muffled a burp. "I am…" however her sights turned to Garou. "How is he?"

Garou gently patted his side. Pac bulged out of him oddly, but he didn't appear to mind the least bit. "Stressed, but asleep right now. I'll leave him here."

"Yeah man, that's messed up." Knuckle said as he pointed to Garou. "I mean seriously, what the hell did you just do?"

"Huh? Oh, this… yeah… well… I think we explained before when the kids are sick, upset, stressed or hurt. I can take them into myself like this. I mean the creatures you see gathered around me, aren't part of my main body, they are more of an outer layer to say the least."

"Yeah, but… why?" he asked.

"Garou makes them feel safe, not to mention, all the kids were raised like this. After I gave birth, they lived in him like that for some time, nearly a year! They fed off of him as they grew big and strong enough to handle themselves. That's why my kids aged so fast." Melee explained. "Chalk it up to a monster thing, except we're the monsters that give a damn about our children."

Knuckle nodded as his eye caught something moving fast across the floor. Heroes were suddenly tripping, moving and avoiding something along the floor. One rushed right over his feet! He was quick to snag it. "Whoa, slow down there!"

He got a hiss and then a bite to his arm!

"PYTHAN!" came the voice of a very stern Snek. Suddenly the room came to a stop, the other snake children suddenly stopped and came back to the table. "What did I say about biting! You know better!" he scolded.

"He picked me up!" his son protested. "I didn't say he could"

"That is true, my bad. I just didn't want to see anyone step on him!"

"Trust me, sometimes he has to learn the hard way, even if it means a boot on the tail!" Snek took back his son, just as Knuckle shuttered. "You okay? Did the venom affect you?"

"Nah, already made the anti-venom to it." He said. But he paused. "Wow… your kid has strong venom!"

"Yeah, well he shouldn't be biting people like that!" he scolded as his glare came down upon his son. Pythan crossed his arms and looked away, the kid must be handful. "I know why you're snippy, you're hungry!"

His look lightens as the other kids came over and began coiling up their father. "Can we have something to eat, please!"

"Yes Angie, I'll get you kids fed."

"Can you sing baby snake along the way?"

"God no, Conna!"

Snek left the room with the kids in tow, but Knuckle smirked to it all. "You're family is getting bigger huh?"

"Needless to say. Have a seat, want something to eat?" asked Melee.

He thought about it, just as his body gave off a strange sound, nearly the same as a rumbling stomach. "Weird, I don't think I got guts to digest food, yet I am hankering something to eat."

He took a seat across from Melee, a droid approached and asked for his order. "Get him the Melee special." Garou said. "In a hurry please."

The droid took off. "What's the Melee special?"

"A bit of everything." She explained. "It's really good, the droids know how to make a great meal" She paused as Knuckle began rubbing his hands oddly. "Are you okay?"

"I… think so… I… really don't know anymore Melee. I mean… I go from being dead… alive… brainwashed… nearly dead again… eaten by an alien slime…"

"Wait, what was that last part?" said Garou.

"Eaten by an Alien slime, that's what made this skin on me, it's an alien slime that devoured by body and nearly everything else but my brain, nervous system and heart. Everything else… GONE" he said and then he began to feel it, he was nervous to what he has become, what will happen to him now. "I… I just don't know what I am anymore. I ain't human to say the least, I am a cyborg made of impossible alien technology and apparently an alien itself, but still… sis… what am I?" he asked.

The table was silent, until Luna went up, took a seat next to him and gave him the biggest hug. "Yep" she announced confidently. "You feel the same as before when I hugged you!"

Knuckle smirked. "Thanks kid, but it's not quite it."

"Alley did say she is looking into everything, you are still you Knuckle, Boros tried to keep it like that. He didn't want to turn you and Street into something you're not. If anything, I think he wanted to be sure you were strong enough. He knew about your concern of not being able to help the family, but now, you can. You have!" Melee stated. Her hand reached over and took his. "Big Bro, you are always going to be Knuckle to me. I don't care if he had turned you into a goo of sorts. You're my brother!"

"And my annoying Brother in law." Muttered Garou. "Seriously, you still call me baby bro?"

He smirked just as the food hit the table. There was an overflow of varieties, Knuckle smacked his lips as he didn't hesitate to dig in. He could taste it all, feel the textures of the food and savor every bit of it. "Oh God, I didn't think I could enjoy this as much as I could. Hot Damn!" he announced.

He didn't wonder where the food was going, let alone what would become of it after, all he wanted to do was eat and enjoy himself.

#

The table cleared, the sensation of satisfaction came over him. He felt full in a sense, and yet still wondered where the food went to. "So, you need a place to live?" Garou asked offhandedly. "We can made an edition on our house, you and Street can come say with us."

Knuckle was taken aback by the sudden offer, Melee smiled and nodded. "We always have room for family." She insisted.

He smiled to the offer. "I really don't know what we are going to do…"

The table fell silent until Alley returned. "Uncle Knuckle!" she called.

He smiled to her. "Hey baby girl! You couldn't have gone though all those notes already, have you?"

"No, I am taking my time with them to ensure I understand everything correctly. A lot of this he is leaving for you and Uncle Street to discover. I find that a rather big pain in the ass!"

"No kidding, but then again, could be fun. We already know we can do what Genos does, so there's firepower."

"But that's just part of it. Genos can also summon blades at his arms, reattach his body parts if they got severed… learned that the hard way…" muttered Garou.

"He also has a powerful punch, but his hand is connected by a chain so he can retract it easily," said Alley.

"It's puberty all over again…" muttered Knuckle who got a decent snicker out of Garou.

"Oh grow up!" protested Melee as she gave him a firm nudge to the arm.

"We will take our time with this, and ensure we cover all the bases to say the least," said Alley.

Knuckle nodded in agreement. "Street and I got to find out where we fit in all this. We don't want to impose or anything on anyone…"

"You're family," Garou said defiantly. He turned his nose up at it all. "You think you're imposing, we got three free loaders living at our house and one of them has five kids with him now."

OOF!

"OW" Garou protested.

Melee gave him a good shot to chest with her elbow. "Be that as it may!" she said in a sharp tone. "We help people, just as dad would have done. We can make some room if you don't mind sharing a bedroom for a little while."

"Or I can put you up here for a while." Said Alley. "We got sleeping quarters"

"We'll see what Street wants to do first, thanks kiddo."

"For now, come back to the house, let's see if we can catch up a little." Said Melee. "I'm still trying to figure out what you did to Garou and I, and how!"

He smirked to the notion. "Yeah, okay, I never really did get a good look at the house last time I was there."


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

The walk did him good.

Max and Street took their time out and about, Street would pause as he take notice of the people, his eyes were registering their heat, body language and even whispering. Some comment though weren't that savory. He heard some guys talk about Lightning Max and stated how he was an insult to heroes everywhere. Others whispered about him, there were women gushing over him to say the least. "Look how big he is, doesn't he look like that Neo Hero they had?"

"Yeah, but I haven't seen him in ages, is that him?"

"New look perhaps?"

"Street?"

He shook his head clear and focused once more. "Sorry Max, I tend to wonder don't I?" he joked.

"You got a whole new way of seeing the world now, it's going to take time to adjust to say the least,"

"Yeah…" he suddenly paused, his eyes were flashing from within his head. "I think there's trouble up ahead"

The ground shook as something came running down the road, it threw the cars off to the side like they were nothing! "Yep…" said Max as he rushed on ahead.

Street stepped back as Max got in its way, it was a monster, about three feet taller than an average person, yet it charged in like a bull. That may explain the horns on his head. Max did everything to hold it back, yet the monster was strong, he threw him off like it was nothing and was about to rampage again… until Street got hold of its horns. "Hey, what the hell man, you ain't a licensed vehicle!"

It was strange. Street felt this things power push up against him. Harder and harder it tried to force his way through. Yet Street felt nothing, it was like holding back Melee when she was younger! The monster even went for his arms and tried to apply enough pressure to break them. "BREAK DAMN YOU BREAK!" the monster growled.

"Oh, you trying to break my arms? That won't be happening, here. Let me break your jaw instead!" It was a swift knee strike to the chin. Street heard its neck snap as the monster finally released him, it fell back in the streets with its head torqued.

The people froze.

"Who is he, he wasn't even trying,"

"That's some power, it threw Lightning Max off like he was nothing. This guy didn't even flinch!"

"Who is he?"

"Is he a Neo Hero?"

"He's not wearing their colors…"

Street ignored the comments as he helped Max to his feet. "Good fight… Well, might as well bring this back home, maybe Snek will want it later."

"Yeah, still, damn, you didn't move an inch, Street! You got to be what, five times stronger than before?" asked Max.

"Who knows for sure, but I think I went overboard on killing it. Either way…" He approached the fallen body of the monster, with ease he slung it over his shoulder and began to walk home with it. "Let's go before I draw too much attention to this."

#

"You see this!?"

It was an eventful day to say the least at the Neo heroes. There have been reports of another house of evolution forming, but was quickly destroyed. Nothing was left but a crater from where it once stood. Accel was keeping tabs on the whole thing ever since the incident occurred with Drax. Yet when Metal Bat rushed off to deal with the incident involving his sister, Accel couldn't help but wonder if Bad did this. Had he mentioned the house of evolution was involved, he would have offered back up then!

Yet there was something else that has been brought to his attention. No more than ten minutes ago a news story broke about a monster rampaging, it was stopped by someone strong who held it in place with ease, one shot to the chin was enough to break its neck. Yet as he watched the footage, Accel froze. "Wait, is that Street Brawler!?" he demanded.

Raiden was in the room and saw the image himself. "But, Bad said they were dead. He was choked up about it too! How could he be alive?"

He didn't know, but Accel wanted answers. "I'm going on, I got to find him!"

"Be careful, looks like he's with Lightning Max!" warned Raiden.

Accel hurried.

Skating as fast as he could through the cities, he managed to find Lightning Max and Street Brawler. By the time he caught up, he was nearly out of breath. "STREET BRAWLER!" he shouted with the last ounce of air in his lungs.

The figure paused and turned, he knew that face, it was him! "Accel?"

"Street!" he cheered and caught his breathe. "You're alive! Bad said you were dead and your brother too!"

"I was," he replied. Street dropped the monster he was carrying off his shoulders. "Look, stuff happened, we don't really know the extent of it…"

"It doesn't matter man, come back to the Neo Heroes! We could never replace the two of you!"

"Yeah about that, I can't."

Accel froze, nearly dumbfounded to the comment. "Huh?"

Street stared at him oddly. "Did I stutter? I can't return to the Neo Heroes, look, I don't know what's become of me okay, as I said, stuff has happened."

"We can help you!"

"No… no you can't really. Look, Accel. Thanks for bringing my brother and I back, I never did get a chance to properly thank you for that. But at the moment, it's best we stay with our family…"

"Street… what are you talking about? You haven't changed! To me you're still you! Did… did they do something to you?" he asked as he whispered the last part since Max was right beside them.

"Standing, right here and I heard you. NO, we didn't!" Max snapped.

"Accel… I'm a cyborg now"

He froze to the news. "A cyborg?"

"Yeah, cyborg, and I don't know shit about this body."

Accel froze as he took a closer look at Street. Everything appeared normal to him that was until he looked into his eyes. Those strange orange eyes, they were much like Genos's. Street went one farther as he lifted his left arm, the skin quivered and suddenly retracted! Black chrome metal was revealed as Street tinkered with his hand to show it was his doing. "See, no idea what we are, still figuring it out. I rather be near family to know what I can do than to have something go off willy nilly."

He wasn't giving up that easily. The Neo heroes could use something like them on their side. He has never seen a cyborg look so human before, not to mention, if he has no idea what he can do, Accel wanted to be the first one to learn and discover his talents and firepower first hand! He tried to remain calm about it, but insisted the Neo Heroes were the better option to help him. "We have Child Emperor in our midst, I know he would be more than happy to help you!"

"Why is he even called that? Isn't he what? 18 now?"

"Never mind that!" protested Accel. "Come back with us, we can figure this out long before the so called, Association does!"

"Hey! Wait just a damn minute!" protested Max, however Street gave him a look that silenced him quickly.

"No thanks, Accel. Besides, you have no idea who created us to be this way do you?"

"Uh… no… I assume Metal Knight came out of hiding…"

"Not even close. Needless to say it's best you don't find out. Thanks for the offer, but we are staying with family. Now, I got to get this bastard home before it rots in the sun. Take care Accel." Street picked the monster carcass up off the ground and continued on his way. However, he got fundamental scans of Street, no doubt Child Emperor will be able to decipher them later.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

He snored.

He was a loud one at that. Yet in a matter of hours, he choked back some air and must have woken himself up, a snort later and Metal Bat was up! "Whoa! Wait… What?!" he said as he sat up in a bed in a very unfamiliar place.

"Oh good, you're up!"

Alley walked into the room and smiled. "You took a good four hour nap to say the least. You went all out back at that damn lab didn't you?"

Bad slowly sat up in the bed. "Needless to say…" he muttered. But his eyes kept wondering about. "Amazing place you got here Als," he said. "If I had known you were going to be making something like this…"

"Don't worry about it Bad," she said. "Besides, if it doesn't work out for you and the Neo Heroes. I would welcome you in a heartbeat! But right now, you being there keeps Snek's mind at ease. You look out for Drax after all, that means the world to him."

"Yeah…" Bad muttered, he suddenly stared off. Something was on his mind to say the least. He kept thing back to what he saw, what Pac became and how it happened. "Alley… your brother going to be okay?" he asked with a worried tone. "What I saw… what happened to him…"

She sighed aloud as she found a chair. Alley sat herself down and tried to think of what to say. "Pac… did change." She said. "No doubt the training he did with Boros triggered that…"

"Boros?" Bad questioned.

"Oh right, you didn't know about that either. Well, the aliens that invaded earth from a few years back, long before I was born. They left a containment pod on their ship, their strongest crew members were contained within, clones to be precise. The most powerful one of them all was their leader, Boros. None of the other heroes knew about it since he was defeated by Saitama as the events on the ground played out…"

"What, that bald guy in the yellow suit?" he demanded. "You're kidding me!"

"Do I look like I kid about this?" she asked. Alley continued on. Boros was one of many clones found within the containment Unit when she and Suiryu found it. "It's how I got new esper powers and these…" she explained and revealed her second set of arms. "Needless to say how I got them. My family tends to devour its victories." She went on and told him about Boros, the only surviving clone left and yet she wondered if he could be raised to be a hero. "I took a chance, if I couldn't do it, I at least knew someone who could defeat him with ease, even my father could have in such a young state he was in. Yet, he slowly warmed up to us, he got knocked down a few pegs with Luna kicked his ass a few times…"

"Luna? Your sister kicked his ass?!" he demanded.

"Many times, kept him grounded to say the least. She could match him power for power. It helps that when he was young, she kept coddling him. Luna thought and still thinks everything is adorable and can be cuddled. She had no idea about her absorption powers, still, each time she held him, she took more of it… that may also explain her iron clad grip… she held Snek's kids all the time…" she muttered the last part lowly to herself, but Bad didn't really care about hearing Luna's power.

"Anyways…" he said aloud. "This Boros guy trained your brother?"

"All of them actually. He's quite powerful. To say the least, if Saitama hadn't been around, he would have cleaned the floor with a majority of the S Class." She said.

Bad froze. "You can't say that!" he protested. "You wouldn't have know…" he suddenly froze as Alley glared at him. "Oh…" he muttered.

"Bad… you know how strong my brothers are, you know they have most of the S Class's abilities including Tatsumaki's. They couldn't beat him. The only one who stood a chance were the triplets. Luna, Eclipsa and Akira since they grew up next to him and gained a good chuck of his power. Pac trained with him every day until the invasion. After that, he stopped when he felt himself changing… I guess what the house of evolution did just pushed him over the threshold of that change…"

"So… what happened?"

She sighed aloud. "Dad said he took on properties that resembled much like his first monster transformation. Awakened Garou or something like that, Pac's upper body has changed permanently. From what mom said, his coiled dragon like serpents are gone. His arms appear like exposed muscle now and that texture went across his chest and back. Oddly though, he kept his serpents around his belly. But that's all the change mom could see."

"He was going to do it you know…" Bad muttered. "He was going to take advantage of my sister!"

Alley nodded. "He still stopped himself." She said. "Had he not, I doubt you would be lying on this bed."

"What the hell do you mean!" he demanded.

"It's exactly what I am implying. Bad, I've seen this first hand before, just so you know. When it comes to mating… males become extremely possessive. If there is a rival in the area, they will hunt them down and fight to the death if need be!" she said defiantly. "Pac was fighting himself when that happened. Urges like that are not simple to control, how he managed I have no idea. But that alone only goes to show how much stronger he really is, but doesn't see in himself."

He was silent to her. Bad appears to jump the gun when it comes to his sister, but Alley understood how much she means to him and how important Zenko is. "I found Rover by the way. Remarkably, he came here. I got him looked after and back home as you were passed out. His paw will be fine in a few days. Just have him rest."

Alley got up from her chair. "You are welcome to stay as long as you need to. Zenko is upstairs having something to eat. Help yourself to the food. Mom wants me home to have a family dinner with my uncles."

When she left, Bad sighed aloud. He realized how hard he was on Pac, but it was for a good reason. Yet, he failed to notice how much the kid held himself back, the shit he went through to save Zenko. He also didn't know what hell he went through to get to her, how many monsters he battled and killed just to save her and her alone.

"Son of a bitch…" he muttered. Bad got up and out of bed, with his bat in hand, we went to find his sister. It was time to go home… after a good meal of course!


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

There was a celebration of sorts back at the house. They ordered out and got enough food to feed a small legion.

'Here's hoping it's enough' Melee thought.

The feast was wonderful as she watched her brothers enjoy themselves from across the table. Garou kept back and watched the festivities, all the while holding on to Pac still. She worried for her son, normally he would need just a little time to calm down, but it's been going on for hours now. She wouldn't be surprised if Garou kept him overnight.

"This is great and all, but we still haven't figured out what to do next!" said Knuckle. "No offense Melee, Garou, this is YOUR house, not ours, besides, it's about damn time we lived on our own right?"

"Well until you figure it out, there's more than enough room at the Association." Said Alley. "You can automatically enter without a passcode, I put it into the system."

The brothers gave an appreciative nod. "Thanks kid… you really are something you know that?" said Knuckle, then his eyes darted to Suiryu. "You serious with her?"

He smiled and wrapped his arm around Alley. "Mine!" he said playfully.

"He's committed to me, I marked him and he's marked me." Alley explained.

The brothers then appeared confused. "Marked?" asked Street.

Melee went into detail, when Suiryu and Alley became official Suiryu held on to her and had her scent change. "It's a weird process, he secretes an oil on to her changing her scent. If he hadn't then every time…"

"MOM!" protested Alley and her brothers. "We're eating dinner!" stated Alley.

"Oh… OH!" said Street as he got the giffs of it all. "I see now. Makes sense."

"It's not a pleasant thing, but it's a necessary thing." Garou said. "Ensures that the other males know who belongs to who!"

"Not to mention keeps the females off them too!" said Melee.

"DINNER! WE'RE HAVING DINNER!" protested Hunter.

"I'm sure we have talked about worst things at the table…" muttered Snek. "A lot worst!"

Knuckle began to look around the room oddly. "Where are your tykes?" he asked Snek.

He pointed to his bedroom. "Sleeping, comatose after having their dinner."

"You hunt that fast with them?" asked Street.

"Yeah… hunt…" he muttered lowly.

"ANYWAY!" Alley announced aloud. "I am still going over the notes Boros gave me about you two. There's so much to take in and half if it I can't quite wrap my head around just yet. His detail and construction of your bodies are meticulous. I've rebuilt Genos from time to time, but that's nothing compared to what he's made with you." She explained.

"So… what happens if they break?" asked Garou.

Alley snorted a laugh. "Break? You think these two are going to break?!" she demanded. "Dad. They are made of alien black chrome. It's equivalent of diamond hardness in our world, but beyond it. The only thing that could possibly break them apart would be Saitama!"

"That bald guys with the cape?" asked Knuckle.

"Don't… underestimate him." Warned Garou.

"Seriously, don't even try, he's handed dad his ass on more than one occasion. He's also bested Tatsumaki, and she's the strongest esper in the world!" said Hunter.

"She was…" said Street.

The table froze as he continued to eat. "Huh?" demanded Garou.

"She was." He said. "My sensors somehow picked up on her abilities and power… yet just taking in the room here, there's a esper with greater power than her" he explained as another mouthful of fried rice passed his lips. "Not surprised though…"

Still the table couldn't move. "Well… don't leave us in suspense!" demanded Max.

"Goliath…." Whispered Alley.

"Whaf?" he asked with his mouth full. Apparently the notion of a stronger esper than Tatsumaki was sitting at the table wasn't interesting enough. He gulped his food. "What this about a stronger esper than Tatsu?" he asked.

"It's you moron!" she shouted from across the table.

This time he froze, as he was about to bring another forkful of food up to his mouth. "Oh…" he paused for a moment. "Really?"

"Yeah… but I also haven't seen her at full strength yet. Yet just you sitting here alone it's a powerful esper power I am sensing." Said Street.

Knuckle stared at him. "How are you picking up on that? I got jack shit here!"

"I've been experimenting in our free time… Got to admit, it's rather remarkable…"

"You got to show me how you are doing this!" protested Knuckle. Street snickered to his brother's reaction. Melee sighed and laughed as well. They were the same boys she grew up with. Any time Street learned a new fighting technique or move, Knuckle would demand to know how he learned him and where. Street could hold back information on Knuckle, just to drive him crazy.

Apparently, he still does!

With the meal done and over with, her brothers content, they stretched themselves out. Street paused as he stared at her oddly but then gave a confident nod. "Just making sure that there is none of that black crap left in your system. We got it all!" he announced proudly, he gave Garou the same look and nodded again.

"Still… how could you two have done that?" asked Alley. "I spent months with the most brilliant mind in genetics, we couldn't even crack that damn toxin!"

Street smirked. "Well, it wasn't us. It was this damn slime that makes our skin." He explained. "From what I retained when I was somehow asleep or being programed or whatever… the slime is immune to everything it ingests. So, when we took that into ourselves, the slime ate it and then created a counter measure for it. I mean… I really don't know what to tell ya!"

"Well, at least we know if there is a toxin that damn clone tries to use again, we got a counter measure for it." She said in a defeated tone.

"Don't take it so hard," Garou said. "You busted your ass on that and tried to help as best as you could. I am proud you never gave up."

"Spoken like a true father." Said Knuckle. He paused oddly. "Do cyborgs sleep? I got to admit, I think I feel tired but I really don't know if I am."

Alley smiled. "How about I take you back to the association. I'll show you your rooms and you can get some rest." She insisted.

The brothers agreed. Melee stood up from her chair and embraced them wholeheartedly. "I am so happy your back!" she said to them.

They returned the embrace. "So are we little sis. Take care of baby bro for us okay? We never had a little brother before…" Knuckle said, but his tone was somewhat startling to her.

It just how Garou sounds when he's about to do something rather evil…


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Back at the Association.

Despite trying to have a peaceful meal, Bad got bombarded by the other heroes.

"What are the Neo Heroes like?"

"How do they treat you?"

"Is it better than here?"

"You being paid the same or more?"

"HOLD IT!" he shouted. "I ain't here to talk about where I work, I am here to eat and take my sister home! We went through a lot to day, back off!" he snapped.

The heroes slowly backed off as Bad continued his meal. It was strange though. He didn't see Zenko anywhere…

#

She went to the bathroom, one of the personal ones Alley said she could use. "I normally use this for myself, but please if need be, help yourself to it." She insisted. Alley preferred to bathe away from the other heroes, Zenko could understand her reasoning considering how different she is from the others. But this gave her the privacy she needed.

She hadn't felt right ever since the incident with Pac, it happened just after she was taken into his side, when he was clawing away at himself, the serpent from his waist grew thicker and stronger, she even swore there were some that moved down from his back towards her for the sake of protection. It was then. She felt it. The slithering creatures went across her back they kept oddly close to her until she felt something almost sharp in a sense come over her skin.

She didn't quite know what happened, yet when she was able to get to the shower she checked her back but saw nothing. Now, she sees it.

It was a small sliver before of red, she assumed it was Pac's blood at first and would wash off after a hot shower. Yet, as she peered into the mirror and stared, she found the small sliver of red grow. It wasn't blood, worst still. It was ruby red scales!

Zenko worried, what was it? How did this happen? What was its purpose? She didn't know. But it was concerning to her, she didn't know either if she should tell her older brother about it!

#

Alley arrived with her uncles. The Association was relatively cleared out for the evening as most of the heroes went home to sleep. There were some who preferred the night life. One hero she explained called himself Night Owl. "Believe it or not, according to him, sunlight knocks him out cold! When it's night time, he's out in full force!" she explained.

"Interesting…" muttered her uncle Knuckle.

She led them down the hall, towards the elevator and on to the fourth floor. "We got sleeping chambers on each floor, but this one would give you the most privacy." She insisted.

Bringing them to their rooms, there were two massive beds waiting for them. "Is this okay?" she asked.

"Perfect, thanks sweetheart." Said Uncle Street as he kissed her forehead. "We're going to be counting on you to help us figure this shit out. You up for it?"

She merely smiled. "I look forward to it!" she stated. Her uncle Knuckle also offered her a gentle kiss on her forehead as a token of thanks, with that she left her uncles to rest for the night.

As she turned to leave, Alley found Zenko lingering right behind her. "Oh, Zenko, you're still here… everything okay?" she asked.

Zenko sighed. "I need to ask you something…" she turned around and lifted her shirt. Alley froze as she saw the red scales on her back. "Is this normal?"


End file.
